Mechanics Bank Trust Department Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 114.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Accenture were worth $509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $357.59 and its 200 day moving average is $345.65. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

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.