Mackenzie Financial Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,795,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,221 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 0.8% of Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.29% of Accenture worth $631,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $382.14.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $316.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,434,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,002,036. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day moving average of $302.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $339.47. The company has a market cap of $198.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was 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 owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.