Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Acquires 963 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,075 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.1% of Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $387.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $365.29 and a 200 day moving average of $354.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

Accenture Company 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.