Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,465 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 2.0% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the 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 owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This 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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $352.33 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $357.59 and a 200 day moving average of $345.65. The stock has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Accenture 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.