Diversify Wealth Management LLC Has $5.26 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,022 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,764 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 51,835 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,727,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 212,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $64,331,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 13,052 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,960,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 141,090 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $42,808,000 after acquiring an additional 9,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 16,888.5% during the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,144,000 after acquiring an additional 10,302 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. 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 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $357.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $345.65. The firm has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.