Transform Wealth LLC Increases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Transform Wealth LLC grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,409 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,819 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.0% of Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspiriant LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 2,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,053,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 36,631 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,887,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,000,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Martel Wealth Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $704,000. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 87,177 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,668,000 after buying an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 approximately $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 three months, insiders sold 16,452 shares of company stock valued at $5,934,343. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $352.33 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $357.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.26. The firm has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 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 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.