Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Sells 12,185 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 258,581 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 12,185 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.2% of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $90,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Busey Bank lifted its position in Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 72,670 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $208,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 17,613 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,196,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake 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. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 58.1% during the 4th quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,398 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $380.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $358.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $349.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock worth $5,852,848. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.