Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Sells 880 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. reduced its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,563 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 880 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $350,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,177,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 2,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 70.5% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,193 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $302.00. 2,748,416 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,902,731. The stock's fifty day moving average is $309.06 and its 200 day moving average is $330.41. The firm has a market cap of $189.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.