Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $215,000 Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 613 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 34.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,230,000 after buying an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Accenture by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 33,484.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $311.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,283,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,014. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $209.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $340.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.