Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,566 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 17,100 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $71,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 435 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 2.1%

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

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.15.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.