Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Increased by Bar Harbor Wealth Management

Bar Harbor Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,720 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded down $0.65 during trading on Monday, reaching $349.14. 1,541,873 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,520,676. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $357.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.