Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Palisade Asset Management LLC

23 Nov 2024, 19:14 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Palisade Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,092 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $125,126,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $358.66 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $356.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $328.98.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Accenture

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Profile

(Free Report)

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.