VeraBank N.A. Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

VeraBank N.A. lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $2,061,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Accenture by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after acquiring an additional 875,723 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $288,168,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $286,220,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,421,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE ACN traded down $2.58 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $295.48. The company had a trading volume of 2,282,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,891,228. The firm has a market cap of $185.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.68.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Accenture Company 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.