Equitable Trust Co. Sells 1,675 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Equitable Trust Co. cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,643 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,675 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 45,609 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $16,122,000 after buying an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 8,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 727 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,769 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,928,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in Accenture by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 343 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE ACN opened at $355.51 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $222.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $353.64 and a 200-day moving average of $325.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on 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 raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 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.