Wick Capital Partners LLC Buys 7,538 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wick Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1,231.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,150 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,538 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 0.5% of Wick Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Wick Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.9% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. 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. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $4.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $305.49. 1,810,006 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,978,367. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $308.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $345.02. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.