Virtus ETF Advisers LLC Invests $1.12 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Virtus ETF Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,121,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $293.63 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

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.