Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Cuts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 230,566 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 17,100 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $71,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,067,651,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE ACN opened at $311.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $305.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.58. The stock has a market cap of $195.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $382.15.

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.