Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Trimmed by SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.

SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,523 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.2% of SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $217.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $344.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of 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. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

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.