Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 24.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,549 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,942 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optas LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,629 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the period. Ticino Wealth purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,053,000. Novem Group boosted its position in Accenture by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Novem Group now owns 1,793 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 31,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,509,000 after buying an additional 3,440 shares during the period. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $712,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $194.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $202.42 and a 200 day moving average of $239.12. The firm has a market cap of $129.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $177.50 and a 1 year high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total value of $1,101,650.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $7,523,339.98. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total transaction of $289,024.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 27,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,656,887.70. The trade was a 3.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 15,331 shares of company stock worth $4,048,871 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.