Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1,105.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,631 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,840 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 0.8% of Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $362.37 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $358.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $331.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.