M3 Advisory Group LLC Buys New Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

M3 Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 723 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 267.9% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Accenture stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $375.80. The company had a trading volume of 397,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,731,997. The stock has a market cap of $235.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 3.47 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 has a fifty day moving average of $344.26 and a 200 day moving average of $321.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for 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 last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.