D.B. Root & Company LLC Purchases 125 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

D.B. Root & Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7 %

ACN stock opened at $359.08 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.75. The company has a market capitalization of $224.71 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock worth $6,172,719. 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.