Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Legacy Private Trust Co.

Legacy Private Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,972 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $1.35 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $357.74. 1,974,217 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,655,640. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $357.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $343.27. The company has a market cap of $223.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

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

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.