Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Vantage Wealth

Vantage Wealth increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,034 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 3.9% of Vantage Wealth’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Vantage Wealth’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 1,431.7% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 44,818 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,598,000 after buying an additional 41,892 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in Accenture by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Accenture by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 952,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $289,063,000 after buying an additional 275,145 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,205,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $669,313,000 after buying an additional 51,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.30. 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 (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock worth $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim boosted 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. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

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.