Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Acquires 223 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price target 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. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $358.66 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $356.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $329.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.