Professional Advisory Services Inc. Sells 4,179 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,538 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,179 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 2.9% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 212.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,212 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $5,000,000 after purchasing an additional 9,661 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $8,439,000 after buying an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 9,333 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,283,000 after buying an additional 4,057 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 11,735 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock 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. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $357.59 and a 200 day moving average of $345.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered 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 raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.