Security National Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Security National Bank cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,260 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.0% of Security National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Security National Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 3,619 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 17.9% in the first quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 805 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. New World Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. New World Advisors LLC now owns 1,405 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.75.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $294.71 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $184.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $307.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $332.55. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.