Smith Salley Wealth Management Buys 1,204 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,562 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.2% of Smith Salley Wealth Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Smith Salley Wealth Management's holdings in Accenture were worth $18,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,218 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Raub Brock Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Raub Brock Capital Management LP now owns 52,294 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $18,397,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,576 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 124,831 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $43,915,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $200,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $352.33. The company had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $357.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $345.65. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's payout ratio is 49.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.04.

About Accenture

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.