Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Boosted by Stiles Financial Services Inc

Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.1% of Stiles Financial Services Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 108.0% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $360.96 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $352.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.80. The company has a market capitalization of $225.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.