Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 662.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,151 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 28,991 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,048,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,099,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company 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 increased their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $346.59 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $216.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $351.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.68.

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.