First Financial Bank Trust Division Has $7.29 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Financial Bank Trust Division trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,634 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,072 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after buying an additional 131,544 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after acquiring an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $356.31 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $223.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $335.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.32. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.