Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Raised by Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,284 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Accenture were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC raised its position in Accenture by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE ACN traded down $5.13 on Wednesday, reaching $311.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,164,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,391. The firm has a market cap of $209.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $353.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.40.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the transaction, 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 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.