Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC Buys 85 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after buying an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,786,256,000 after purchasing an additional 80,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was 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. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,221 shares of company stock worth $7,572,755. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $6.29 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $364.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 851,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,718,193. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $348.78 and a 200-day moving average of $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders 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 a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Susquehanna increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.