Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Invests $8.92 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 25,248 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,920,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Castellan Group increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 8,165 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,886,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $18,115,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 101,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,375,000 after acquiring an additional 10,961 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’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 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. This 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $373.32.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE ACN opened at $361.00 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $225.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $360.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $334.25.

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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.