Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,129 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after buying an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Accenture by 1.2% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 131,544 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. This trade 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 is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $360.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $350.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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.