Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Fred Alger Management LLC

Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $349.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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 represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $364.64.

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.