Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 47,281 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 47,281 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,591,000. Accenture accounts for about 2.4% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded up $1.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $311.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,296,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,014. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $340.17 and its 200 day moving average is $342.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

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.