Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 9,800 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 162,729 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Accenture were worth $57,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 159.5% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,615 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after buying an additional 2,222 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,486 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 28.8% during the first quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winthrop Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents 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 related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

ACN traded down $3.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $360.80. The stock had a trading volume of 2,129,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,722,404. The stock has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $350.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.02.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America lifted 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. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.