Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $152.53 Million Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 110.0%, owning approximately 500,447 shares valued at $152.5 million.
• Approximately 75.14% of Accenture's stock is currently held by institutional investors and hedge funds, reflecting strong confidence in the company.
• Accenture recently reported a 7.7% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share surpassing estimates at $3.49, compared to the expected $3.32.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 110.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 500,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 262,152 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned 0.08% of Accenture worth $152,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,500 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,428,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $240.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,449,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,980,534. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $257.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $289.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $234.18 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $335.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. 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.