Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Hartford Funds Management Co LLC

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, 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 Trading Down 0.7 %

ACN stock opened at $358.66 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $356.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $329.11. The stock has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.