Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC Decreases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Cove Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $411,000. DLK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 9,727 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,422,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,465 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,903,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Thrive Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 940 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willner & Heller LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $220,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Accenture stock opened at $352.33 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $357.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $345.65. The stock has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

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.