Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Buys 5,607 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,249 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,607 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.2% of Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $647,000. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 10,671.4% during the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 689 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sentinus LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Shellback Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $40,456,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $317.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.18. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $198.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $381.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.