Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Hartford Investment Management Co.

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 806 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $390.21 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $244.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $362.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture 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.