Hantz Financial Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,425 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 24,736 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $33,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2,666.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after buying an additional 689,366 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $378.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $236.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $358.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $349.02. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas cut 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. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock worth $5,852,848. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.