Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,755 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 328 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

ACN opened at $362.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $227.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim raised 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

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.