Financial Management Professionals Inc. Buys 645 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 142.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,099 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 645 shares during the quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Accenture by 13.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $19,007,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $87,566,000 after acquiring an additional 12,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,778,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

Accenture stock opened at $360.80 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $350.24 and its 200 day moving average is $322.94. The company has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 given a $1.48 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

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.