Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Raised by Avitas Wealth Management LLC

Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,985 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Ninety One North America Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 94.0% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 79,980 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 38,743 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $4,822,000. Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 19,375 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,829,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the period. RBA Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,638 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,127 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.8 %

Accenture stock opened at $391.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $360.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $350.64. The firm has a market cap of $245.30 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $392.45. 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 (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.51%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This trade represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,255 shares of company stock valued at $4,756,101. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.