Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 620 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000. Accenture makes up approximately 0.1% of Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,472,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 6,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,105 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 4,450 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 4,390 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.24.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $4.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $300.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,045,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,507,729. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $285.18 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $322.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.49.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.