Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 32.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,138 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 521 shares during the quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $389.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $243.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 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. The company’s fifty day moving average is $364.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $353.43. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

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.