Hayek Kallen Investment Management Has $3.48 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hayek Kallen Investment Management decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,835 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 464 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 1.2% of Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $4.89 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $369.49. 914,214 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,740,105. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.56 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $340.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.62.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

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

About Accenture

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.