Transform Wealth LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Transform Wealth LLC boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 52.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.2% of Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. lifted its stake in Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $303.28. 933,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,806,133. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $203.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.65.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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.