McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Invests $288,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 819 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Accenture by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 248,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,368,000 after buying an additional 23,537 shares in the last quarter. EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 18,099 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,492,000 after buying an additional 4,196 shares during the period. Dundas Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 126,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,411,000 after acquiring an additional 3,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decatur Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the second quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,506 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,974,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.76 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $227.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $357.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm 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 earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

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.