Financial Security Advisor Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,956 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 51,837.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after buying an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $204,895,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.96.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $356.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $223.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.95, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $367.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $357.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

About Accenture

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.