Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Webster Bank N. A.

Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 724 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $303.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,905,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.15. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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.