Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 120,490 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 25.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 354,552 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 120,490 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $95,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after buying an additional 118,460 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Accenture by 41.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after buying an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after buying an additional 546,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $196.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $321.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $185.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.05.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (down from $260.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $271.81.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.