Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Has $94.89 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 59.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,741 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 116,005 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Accenture were worth $94,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,256 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after purchasing an additional 2,526 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,409 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,138 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,110,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Frisch Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 169.3% in the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 103,798 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $336.93 on Wednesday. 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 $211.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $329.94 and a 200-day moving average of $322.59.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.91.

About Accenture

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.