Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,589 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,734 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 131,544 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 173,107 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Accenture by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after buying an additional 80,514 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture 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 owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade 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 hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,548 shares of company stock valued at $7,322,278 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $371.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $232.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $347.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.19. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim raised their price objective 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.