8,249 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Bought by PFW Advisors LLC

PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 8,249 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,902,000. Accenture makes up 0.9% of PFW Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Marion Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 12,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,225,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 36,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 1,508 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Bar Harbor Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 14,720 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,178,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $349.14. 2,711,122 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,694,241. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $357.82 and its 200-day moving average is $344.30. The company has a market cap of $218.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value 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 approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Accenture Company 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.