D.B. Root & Company LLC Buys 125 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,712 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 28,798 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,131,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 297,999 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $104,833,000 after purchasing an additional 4,524 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $359.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $224.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.