Wedbush Securities Inc. Purchases 281 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $666,495,000. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 51,837.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $285.04 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $349.68 and its 200 day moving average is $354.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $178.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. 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.