Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Lifted by Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 627 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida’s holdings in Accenture were worth $221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in 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 buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.23.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7 %

ACN stock traded down $2.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $351.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,349,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,934. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $357.59 and a 200 day moving average of $342.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

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.