Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 355,268 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,140 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $106,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,129,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $19,466,641,000 after buying an additional 1,315,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,182,331,000 after purchasing an additional 147,931 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,998,826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,689,659,000 after purchasing an additional 56,108 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,793,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $2,637,640,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 4.6%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $273.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $179.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $246.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.45. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total value of $623,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,763.30. The trade was a 64.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $240.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.25.

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.