Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,791 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.2% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its stake in Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total transaction of $902,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,126,833.33. The trade was a 11.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Accenture Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $372.99 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $357.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $348.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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.