SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Acquires 194 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,693 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $21,246,236,000 after buying an additional 392,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $303.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $337.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.