Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,037 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $5.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $356.78. 551,244 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,714,915. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $355.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $326.73. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $223.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.