Principal Securities Inc. Buys 1,396 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $347,000. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,824 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,472,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 9.3% in the third quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 308,236 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $108,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $345.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.05.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. 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 dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.