Liberty Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Liberty Wealth Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 4,626% in Q1, holding 28,545 shares valued at approximately $8.91 million.
• Accenture reported a 7.7% year-over-year revenue growth with a quarterly revenue of $17.73 billion, surpassing expectations of $17.26 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.3% and indicating a 47.13% payout ratio.

Liberty Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4,626.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,545 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 27,941 shares during the quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Lipe & Dalton lifted its position in Accenture by 2,087.4% in the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $321,000. United Bank purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $758,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $7.87 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $250.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,425,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,397,526. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $296.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.45. The company has a market cap of $157.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $247.80 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

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.