Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Edge Financial Advisors LLC

Edge Financial Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $359.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $224.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.