Capital Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,784 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total transaction of $902,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,126,833.33. This represents a 11.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $378.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $236.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.54.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

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.