Cim Investment Management Inc. Boosts Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Cim Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 62.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,473 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,870 shares during the quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 2.1% in the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Texas Bank & Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the first quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Norway Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 4,123 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 854 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in Accenture by 0.8% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 4,902 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total value of $2,246,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,868,888.12. This trade represents a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $271.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $250.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Dbs Bank raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Accenture from $348.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $293.21.

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.