UMB Bank n.a. Trims Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

UMB Bank n.a. reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 73,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,169 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $303.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $337.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Accenture Company 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.