Wesbanco Bank Inc. Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,535 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 524 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 432.8% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 18,840 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,660,000 after purchasing an additional 15,304 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Accenture by 8.7% during the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.0% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 10,024 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,543,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.7% in the third quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 128.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 2,731 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $368.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $341.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.77. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.