Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Signal Advisors Wealth LLC

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,345 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its position in shares of Accenture by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Traveka Wealth LLC raised its position in Accenture by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 1,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 8,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,816,000 after buying an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,902,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $357.98 and a 200-day moving average of $344.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Accenture Company 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.