Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,434 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $447,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Davidson Trust Co. boosted its stake in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 259,159 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $90,425,000 after purchasing an additional 56,829 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $321,000. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management boosted its holdings in Accenture by 93.1% during the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 57,242 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $20,367,000 after buying an additional 27,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $303.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $337.11. The firm has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $382.14.

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.

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