Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Invests $16.59 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target 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. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were 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 worth $8,959,325 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $311.99. 2,296,351 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,499,014. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $340.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

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.