Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Brooklyn Investment Group

Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,965 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 0.6% of Brooklyn Investment Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth about $1,524,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,999,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,652,000 after acquiring an additional 5,045 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,957 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,752,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, Clifford Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.0% during the second quarter. Clifford Group LLC now owns 2,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

ACN opened at $352.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $357.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $345.02. The company has a market cap of $220.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.