2,637 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Challenger Wealth Management

Challenger Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,637 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $928,000. Accenture comprises approximately 0.8% of Challenger Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its position in Accenture by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its stake in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, New England Professional Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $309.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $193.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $302.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

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.