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

Hantz Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

Accenture stock traded up $4.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $384.88. The stock had a trading volume of 3,102,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,768,617. The stock has a market cap of $240.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $359.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $349.42. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $387.22.

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.