Spire Wealth Management Decreases Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Spire Wealth Management reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 95.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 19,689 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank grew its position in shares of Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 258.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,452 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,021,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. HSBC raised Accenture from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.88.

Accenture Stock Up 2.1%

ACN stock opened at $201.18 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $218.82 and its 200 day moving average is $243.39. The stock has a market cap of $133.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $187.00 and a 1-year high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total value of $1,101,650.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,523,339.98. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.