Cypress Wealth Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Cypress Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,192 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Cypress Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 49.8% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 366,662 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $128,665,000 after purchasing an additional 121,972 shares during the last quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $372,000. Options Solutions LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Options Solutions LLC now owns 12,627 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,431,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 12,646.2% during the fourth quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 6,628 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 6,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 913.1% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 28,215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,901,000 after buying an additional 25,430 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,645 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,002 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $361.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.27. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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 paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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