Western Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,525 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 185.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,349 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $861,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $317,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.82 during trading on Friday, hitting $295.26. The stock had a trading volume of 4,159,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,894,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $184.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $273.19 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $308.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.42.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

Accenture Company 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.