TruWealth Advisors LLC Has $15.63 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,208 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 958 shares during the quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,228 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,676,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 925 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 77,373 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc raised its stake in Accenture by 4.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.2% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 8,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ACN opened at $375.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.51. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 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. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Accenture 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.