Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Purchases 1,424 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 41.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,864 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,424 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $318.02. 2,192,507 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,958,129. The company's 50 day moving average is $304.23 and its 200 day moving average is $336.42. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.62.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% 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 worth $2,507,366. Company 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.