United Asset Strategies Inc. Acquires 341 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.14 on Thursday, reaching $346.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 931,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,718,756. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $351.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $323.68. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $216.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.