Transform Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Transform Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 51,409 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,819 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.0% of Transform Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,452 shares of company stock valued at $5,934,343. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $352.33 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $357.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.26. 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 market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

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.