United Asset Strategies Inc. Has $1.11 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

United Asset Strategies Inc. lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 56.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,173 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,136 shares during the quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,113,000 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 company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 2.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 8.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 34,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 284.7% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $313.94 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $358.39 and a 200-day moving average of $342.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.