Hantz Financial Services Inc. Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 126,198 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,290,000. Accenture comprises about 0.7% of Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $341.84 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $214.23 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $319.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.69.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler Companies decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.33.

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.