Somerset Trust Co Has $4.47 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Somerset Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,650 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.7% of Somerset Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Patten Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Accenture by 31.3% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $790,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Beacon Wealthcare LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 2.6% during the third quarter. Beacon Wealthcare LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 1.7% during the third quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 50,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,996,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $365.11 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $338.56 and its 200 day moving average is $320.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.81 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’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 $12,390,445.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % 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, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.