Warm Springs Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Warm Springs Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,277 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,505,000. Accenture comprises about 1.4% of Warm Springs Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $2.05 on Thursday, reaching $318.04. 1,296,463 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,993,453. The company has a 50 day moving average of $302.27 and a 200 day moving average of $339.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 16th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

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.