Baldwin Investment Management LLC Acquires 156 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,106 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 0.6% of Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.82.

Accenture Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $305.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $308.74 and its 200 day moving average is $344.83. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

About Accenture

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.