Avestar Capital LLC Buys 576 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,909 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Accenture stock opened at $388.85 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $364.15 and its 200-day moving average is $353.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

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.