Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Cim LLC

Cim LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. Cim LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% during 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 buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners increased its stake in Accenture by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth $19,007,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $352.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $334.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.07. The stock has a market cap of $220.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

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.