Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by AllGen Financial Advisors Inc.

AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,820 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 1.1% of AllGen Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 30.2% during the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 13,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,769,000 after acquiring an additional 3,129 shares during the last quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 1.9% during the third quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,544,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its position in Accenture by 10.9% during the third quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 52,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $18,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,166 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 5.7% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,406 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 20,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,178,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $360.80 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $226.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $350.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.