First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 4,794 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,794 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Accenture by 251.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 196.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after purchasing an additional 654,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

ACN opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $345.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $321.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

About Accenture

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.