HTLF Bank Acquires New Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

HTLF Bank bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,253 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $316.88 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $355.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.83. The company has a market capitalization of $212.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Bank of America raised their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.