Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Lowered by Lodestone Wealth Management LLC

Lodestone Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,152 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA raised its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $387.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $242.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $364.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.68. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

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.