Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Diversify Wealth Management LLC

Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,022 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,764 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 5.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 51,835 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $15,727,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 212,025 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $64,331,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 6.9% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 13,052 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,960,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.1% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 141,090 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $42,808,000 after acquiring an additional 9,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16,888.5% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 10,302 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $352.33. 4,061,199 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock has a market capitalization 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. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $345.93. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

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.