West Branch Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 56.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,464 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $356.31 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $357.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.98 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24.

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 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 company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,845 shares of company stock valued at $5,645,518 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

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.