Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Buys 1,842 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,280 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 2.3% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

ACN stock opened at $356.31 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $222.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $357.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $346.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,845 shares of company stock worth $5,645,518 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.74.

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.