Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Has $6.16 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,542 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 2.5% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7 %

ACN traded up $2.52 during trading on Thursday, reaching $343.46. 1,026,071 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,259,170. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $369.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.20. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

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.