Unique Wealth Strategies LLC Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,442,000. Accenture comprises 1.0% of Unique Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,315,832,000 after acquiring an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 284.7% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $308.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. The company has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $349.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.94. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. 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.