Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 4,937 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,937 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.6% of Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. boosted its stake in Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,090,000 after acquiring an additional 22,391 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $312.78 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $354.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $355.81. The company has a market capitalization of $195.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.23.

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.