Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Buys New Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 25,248 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,920,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $373.32.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $361.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $360.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $334.25. 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 $225.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company 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.