Wealth Alliance Buys 425 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wealth Alliance raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,231 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Main Street Research LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $230,000. Marietta Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,697,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management increased its stake in Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 127,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $44,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,473 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $1.78 on Tuesday, hitting $315.05. 1,905,778 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,348,393. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $359.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.09. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $211.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.