Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Lifted by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 138,392 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

ACN stock traded up $2.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $362.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 286,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,708,796. The company has a market capitalization of $226.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $354.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $326.17. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a 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 stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.