Novare Capital Management LLC Has $23.56 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Novare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,959 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,620 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 2.0% of Novare Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. M3 Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Accenture by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 753 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $394,000. Affinity Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,562 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,123,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,270 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,668,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KFG Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

ACN stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $357.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $347.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

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.