Empirical Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 234.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 44,524 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,195 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in 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. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $350.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $357.85 and its 200 day moving average is $344.97. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Profile

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.