Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,237 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,918 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 2.3% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Accenture were worth $39,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 2.8% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 71.2% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $233,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.7% in the second quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 3,426 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 74.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock worth $6,172,719 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $357.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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.