Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,022 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 three months, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $386.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $241.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.39, a PEG ratio of 3.44 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $362.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $352.18. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

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.