Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,984 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 201 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 0.7% of Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $332,000. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $798,000. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $360.74 on Monday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $226.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $339.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.48.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.