Invera Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Invera Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 82.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,080 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,291 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.3% of Invera Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Invera Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE ACN traded down $4.85 during trading on Monday, reaching $303.16. 4,718,498 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,463,137. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total value of $766,562.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.