Wills Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 36.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,100 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,218 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.8% of Wills Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.82.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Accenture
Accenture Stock Up 1.2 %
NYSE ACN traded up $3.70 on Thursday, hitting $302.85. 1,323,556 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,373,474. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $311.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $345.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $189.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.
About Accenture
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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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