Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,616 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,632 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 0.7% of Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares during the period. M&G PLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $357.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $344.94. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $217.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.