Diversify Wealth Management LLC Buys 4,764 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,022 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,764 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $251,607,000 after acquiring an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $357.59 and its 200 day moving average is $345.65. 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 $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture 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 directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. TD Cowen upgraded 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 report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.