First Western Trust Bank Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Western Trust Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,565 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,164 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 0.3% of First Western Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This represents a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

Accenture Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $301.34 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $351.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $354.90. The firm has a market cap of $188.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

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.