VeraBank N.A. Reduces Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

VeraBank N.A. reduced its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,532 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 5.9% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 47,080 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,459,000 after acquiring an additional 2,622 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 11.2% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in Accenture by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 307,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $94,303,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 1.1% during the third quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 46,825 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,380,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the third quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $11,279,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $3.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $303.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $342.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.73. The company has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture 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.