Affinity Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Affinity Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,562 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 0.9% of Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in Accenture by 71.2% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $233,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its position in Accenture by 1.7% during the second quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 3,426 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 74.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock worth $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $226.94 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $357.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.