Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 50 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 34.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $729,230,000 after buying an additional 611,376 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% in the fourth 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, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $306.27 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $340.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.35. Accenture plc has a one year low of $264.42 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $205.43 billion, a PE ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.