Hayek Kallen Investment Management Sells 464 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hayek Kallen Investment Management lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,835 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 464 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.2% of Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Birch Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 18,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,443,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $87,566,000 after purchasing an additional 12,993 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 432.8% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 18,840 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,660,000 after purchasing an additional 15,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 8.7% during the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Accenture stock traded up $4.89 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $369.49. 914,214 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,740,105. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.62. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.56 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% 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.