Brookstone Capital Management Sells 16,349 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Brookstone Capital Management lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 83.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,257 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 16,349 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Country Club Bank grew its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the second quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 3,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $360.74 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $339.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.63.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.14%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company 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.