Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR Buys 1,510 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,343 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 4.1% of Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR’s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $6.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $305.44. 2,213,709 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,494,844. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $340.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $264.42 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.