Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC

Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,001 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 2.2% of Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,221 shares of company stock worth $7,572,755 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $370.63 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $348.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $322.52. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $232.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

About Accenture

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.