Signaturefd LLC Buys 1,035 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 267.9% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $4.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $371.43. The company had a trading volume of 570,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,724,094. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $232.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $346.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.91.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,548 shares of company stock worth $3,936,838 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.