AdvisorNet Financial Inc Has $633,000 Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

AdvisorNet Financial Inc lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,798 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 307 shares during the quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 78.6% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $349.45 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $344.94. The stock has a market cap of $218.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. 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. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

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.