Marion Wealth Management Purchases 421 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Marion Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.1% of Marion Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $349.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,711,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,694,241. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $357.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $344.30. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $218.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.