Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Hantz Financial Services Inc.

Hantz Financial Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 119,161 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,037 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 0.7% of Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $42,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $358.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $330.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.