First Western Trust Bank Has $10.19 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Western Trust Bank reduced its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 0.5% of First Western Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $28,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $29,000. Sageworth Trust Co increased its position in shares of Accenture by 872.7% during the first quarter. Sageworth Trust Co now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 74.0% during the first quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 70.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $358.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 in a report on Friday, September 29th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $337.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total value of $1,567,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 20,265 shares in the company, valued at $6,048,697.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total value of $1,567,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,265 shares in the company, valued at $6,048,697.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.04, for a total transaction of $1,887,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,816,308.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,334 shares of company stock worth $10,939,027. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE ACN traded up $0.28 on Monday, reaching $328.11. 387,827 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,232,970. Accenture plc has a one year low of $242.80 and a one year high of $330.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $309.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.18.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 28th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.07 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 29.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 12th were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 11th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.91%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 28th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.