Range Financial Group LLC Makes New $612,000 Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $5.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $356.70. The stock had a trading volume of 4,083,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,640,192. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.94. The company has a market capitalization of $223.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.23.

Accenture 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.