Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,964 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 834 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.7% of Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Equity Partners increased its position in Accenture by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 3,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $264,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Callan Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 1,294 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 93.7% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 35,163 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,339,000 after acquiring an additional 17,008 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $308.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.14. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim began coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Company 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.