M. Kraus & Co Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

M. Kraus & Co trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,275 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 2.0% of M. Kraus & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. M. Kraus & Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% in 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 buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $344.94. The company has a market cap of $217.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.