First American Trust FSB Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First American Trust FSB acquired a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,399 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,832 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,416,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 143,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $50,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 9,982 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,503,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Legacy CG LLC grew its position in Accenture by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Legacy CG LLC now owns 11,228 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $312.63. The stock had a trading volume of 674,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,330,982. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $359.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.09. The company has a market capitalization of $209.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.