Bath Savings Trust Co Sells 35 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bath Savings Trust Co lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,078 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture by 4.5% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.8% during the second quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $356.68 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $336.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $319.71. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wedbush dropped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

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.