American Trust Has $6.38 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

American Trust trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Accenture news, 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 directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $352.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $334.79 and a 200-day moving average of $320.07. The company has a market cap of $220.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.