Washington Trust Bank Acquires 37 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Washington Trust Bank increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 102 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.82 on Tuesday, reaching $294.25. 2,455,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,618,182. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.04. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.22.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $294.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $370.45.

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.