Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Has $413,000 Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,325 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentinus LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.43.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6%

Accenture stock opened at $284.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $306.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.