Maple Capital Management Inc. Acquires 672 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 110,284 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 3.0% of Maple Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $38,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 13.3% in 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 in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.8% in the first 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 buying an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $3,936,838 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $376.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $235.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $346.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.91. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.