Private Trust Co. NA Raises Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,239 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,635,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8%

ACN opened at $304.58 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $309.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $330.04. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction 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 represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.