Carderock Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Carderock Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,819 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 10.2% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $372.47 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $233.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.11, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.13. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.