American National Bank & Trust Sells 4,989 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

American National Bank & Trust trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,982 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,989 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust's holdings in Accenture were worth $10,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Accenture by 6.0% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 143,663 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $44,829,000 after acquiring an additional 8,181 shares in the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.8% in the first quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,157 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $985,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 18.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,789 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,927,000 after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the period. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $216,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $315.22. 1,901,168 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,961,877. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $303.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.76. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $197.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.