MFA Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 37.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 904 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 531 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Davidson Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $861,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $317,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $312.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $306.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $334.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $195.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 26.49%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% 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, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, 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 a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.00.

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.