Mattson Financial Services LLC Lowers Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mattson Financial Services LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,792 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 621 shares during the period. Mattson Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. 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 shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in 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 valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $315.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $197.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.47. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is 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.