Naviter Wealth LLC Buys 583 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,461 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $2.05 on Thursday, hitting $374.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,734,995. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $343.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.13. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $234.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

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

Accenture Company 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.