Rep. Jared Moskowitz Purchases Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) recently bought shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN). In a filing disclosed on December 09th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Accenture stock on November 8th. The trade occurred in the Representative’s “MORGAN STANLEY ACTIVE ASSETS (1)” account.

Representative Jared Moskowitz also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) on 11/8/2024.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) on 11/8/2024.
• Sold $50,001 – $100,000 in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) on 11/8/2024.
• Sold $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) on 11/8/2024.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $363.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $360.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its position in Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 0.6% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture 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 directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Representative Moskowitz

Jared Evan Moskowitz (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. He assumed office on January 3, 2023. His current term ends on January 3, 2025. Moskowitz (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 20, 2024. Moskowitz resigned his state House seat on January 11, 2019, to head the state’s Division of Emergency Management. Jared Evan Moskowitz was born in Coral Springs, Florida. Moskowitz graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from George Washington University in 2003 and a law degree from Nova Southeastern University in 2007. Moskowitz’s career experience includes working as the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and general counsel with AshBritt Inc.

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.