Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Lessened by Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,861 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $4.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $352.88. 494,933 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,322,862. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $357.74 and its 200 day moving average is $343.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

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.