Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Grows Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,875 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 2.0% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 47.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $861,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $317,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $302.00 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $189.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $309.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $330.41.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $370.71.

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.