Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after buying an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd 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. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $358.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $356.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $329.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho increased 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 lifted their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Company 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.