Perkins Coie Trust Co Has $3.51 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Perkins Coie Trust Co lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,977 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,256 shares during the quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

ACN traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $352.33. The stock had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $357.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $345.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

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.