Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Boosted by Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,719 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd 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. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $388.85 on Thursday. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $364.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $353.43. The stock has a market cap of $243.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

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.