Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 683 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Accenture by 251.3% during 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $349.45 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $218.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $357.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.