Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. Has $299,000 Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 845 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $4.06 on Tuesday, reaching $368.66. 2,954,616 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,750,996. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $231.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $340.99 and a 200-day moving average of $320.62.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s 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 completion of 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays upped 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.