Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Lessened by First Western Trust Bank

First Western Trust Bank trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,729 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,587 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.3% of First Western Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 108.0% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $353.57 on Monday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $355.55 and a 200-day moving average of $327.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.