Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,255 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,551 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Accenture by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,198 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel increased its stake in Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 115,013 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $40,655,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas increased its stake in Accenture by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 108,319 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,289,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,469,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $160,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.22.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $386.72 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $362.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.34. The firm has a market cap of $242.00 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.