Eads & Heald Wealth Management Buys 640 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 50.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,911 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth 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. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eight equities research 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, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. The trade was a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,845 shares of company stock worth $5,645,518 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $356.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.26. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year 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 market cap of $222.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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

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.