Wealth Alliance Has $1.84 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wealth Alliance boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,231 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,560,765,000 after purchasing an additional 704,657 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Accenture by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after buying an additional 2,163,582 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares in the company, valued at $60,884,051.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $315.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,905,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,348,393. The company has a market capitalization of $211.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $359.41 and a 200-day moving average of $342.09. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.