Marco Investment Management LLC Purchases 125 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Marco Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,120 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 78.6% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 34.1% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $358.66 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $356.42 and a 200 day moving average of $329.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ACN. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.