Mechanics Bank Trust Department Buys 772 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 114.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 772 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department's holdings in Accenture were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $352.33. The company had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $357.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $345.93. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business 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 last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.04.

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.