Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Lifted by Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,036 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 0.7% of Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $189,000. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,995 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,757,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,247 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,308,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 17,871 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,301 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $387.99 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $242.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $365.29 and its 200 day moving average is $354.28. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.