Trust Co. of Virginia VA Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Trust Co. of Virginia VA lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Virginia VA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $303.41. 14,905,693 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.15. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $203.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

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.