Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is Birch Capital Management LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Birch Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,630 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 3.3% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.7 %

ACN traded up $5.87 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $357.20. 2,231,751 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,211,200. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.