Webster Bank N. A. Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,431 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $332.28 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $366.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.19. The company has a market capitalization of $222.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Accenture 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.