Webster Bank N. A. Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 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 quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. KRS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,876 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 1,756 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Norway Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 3,667 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,486 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, Sawyer & Company Inc lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 14,665 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,083,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $303.41. 14,905,693 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $300.17 and a 200-day moving average of $336.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler Companies reduced their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.