Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by HB Wealth Management LLC

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 124,831 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,014 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 0.4% of HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $43,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,871,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Accenture stock traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $352.33. 4,061,199 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The company has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $357.59 and a 200-day moving average of $345.65.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture 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 transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.