First National Trust Co Has $4.09 Million Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• First National Trust Co reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 16.7%, holding 13,093 shares valued at approximately $4.09 million after selling 2,633 shares.
• Other investors, such as Tredje AP fonden and Geneos Wealth Management Inc., have significantly increased their stakes in Accenture, increasing market interest in the stock.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a total annualized dividend yield of 2.16%, reflecting its strong financial performance with a revenue increase of 7.7% year-over-year.

First National Trust Co cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 16.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,093 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,633 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Down 4.5%

ACN traded down $11.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $255.18. The company had a trading volume of 6,041,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,530,415. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $297.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $319.53. 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 one year low of $254.20 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $159.83 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

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.