BKM Wealth Management LLC Trims Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

BKM Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,125 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,498 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 41.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Accenture by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 9.0% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Argus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $178.61 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.78. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $173.84 and a 52 week high of $325.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $118.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total transaction of $1,008,263.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,298,380.79. This trade represents a 30.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $185,413.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,305 shares of company stock valued at $3,759,847 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.