Advisory Alpha LLC Grows Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 3,464 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 38,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 1,911 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 52,280 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $18,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Genesis Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7 %

Accenture stock opened at $359.08 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $357.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 3.14 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.