Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Sells 440 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 872 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,248,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after buying an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $381.67.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $303.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $203.69 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $284.90 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $325.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.99.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.