Brookmont Capital Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Brookmont Capital Management reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,970 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 38 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 2.3% of Brookmont Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Brookmont Capital Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 36,631 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,887,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,000,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Martel Wealth Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $704,000. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 87,177 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,668,000 after buying an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cove Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $411,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,452 shares of company stock worth $5,934,343. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN opened at $352.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $357.59 and a 200 day moving average of $345.93. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

About Accenture

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.