Tompkins Financial Corp Acquires 305 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Tompkins Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,478 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $350.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $357.85 and a 200-day moving average of $344.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.