MetLife Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 162,900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,783 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $57,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4 %

Accenture stock opened at $364.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $330.01. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $228.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% 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.