Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% during the third 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 during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $352.33 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $220.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $357.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $345.02.

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

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

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.