BIP Wealth LLC Makes New $1.21 Million Investment in Accenture PLC $ACN

BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,490 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 927 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.88.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Manish Sharma sold 2,731 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total transaction of $786,883.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,333.41. The trade was a 27.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total transaction of $1,101,650.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,523,339.98. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 20,256 shares of company stock valued at $5,464,134 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of ACN opened at $193.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $212.48 and its 200 day moving average is $242.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $187.00 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.