New Century Financial Group LLC Boosts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 209.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,358 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $334.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

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.