Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,844 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.1% of Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 11,501 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 value of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $348.27 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $366.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $358.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.96.

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.