Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Has $104.83 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 297,999 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,524 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.5% of Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $104,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $359.08 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $357.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $346.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $224.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock worth $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

About Accenture

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.