Bogart Wealth LLC Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 435 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Accenture by 5.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $87,566,000 after buying an additional 12,993 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Accenture by 16.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,551,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $901,967,000 after buying an additional 363,401 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 45.8% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Probity Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $387.99 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $242.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $364.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $353.68.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

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.