Bar Harbor Wealth Management Sells 515 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,170 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 515 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 44,208 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,627,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,228 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,676,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC increased its position in Accenture by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 925 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 77,373 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $375.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $235.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.