Piscataqua Savings Bank Decreases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Piscataqua Savings Bank lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Piscataqua Savings Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,579 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,395,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares during the period. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. now owns 813 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 626 Financial LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 654 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Brady Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brady Family Wealth LLC now owns 24,592 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,693,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $368.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $231.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $341.99 and its 200 day moving average is $320.77. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm 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 company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 1.61%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.