Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 758,804 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 65,741 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.1% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $236,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of ACN opened at $277.01 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $301.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.36. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $173.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday. They issued a “reduce” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $360.21.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.