Hills Bank & Trust Co Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hills Bank & Trust Co trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,476 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 34 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 40.3% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture 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 transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now 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 is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $5.43 on Thursday, reaching $306.56. The stock had a trading volume of 3,238,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,507,225. The stock has a market cap of $205.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $338.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.14. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $264.42 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.