Hayek Kallen Investment Management Reduces Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hayek Kallen Investment Management lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,703 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.2% of Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ACN opened at $291.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $318.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.71. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $182.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,041 shares of company stock valued at $5,254,956 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.