Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 78,465 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,911 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $27,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 78.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 70.6% in 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 last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its stake 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 during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Accenture by 18.7% during 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 last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $358.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $356.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $329.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 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 $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

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.