Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 843,330 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,866 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.4% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Accenture worth $298,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after buying an additional 509,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $352.84 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $355.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.46. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $220.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Company 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.