Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Increases Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,875 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 2.0% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2%

ACN stock opened at $302.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $309.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.41. The firm has a market cap of $189.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ACN shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.71.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.