Graypoint LLC Acquires 488 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Graypoint LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,567 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the quarter. Graypoint LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the third quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $356.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $352.96 and a 200 day moving average of $324.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 believes its shares are undervalued.

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.