Alps Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 87.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 125,182 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,566 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $30,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,129,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,466,641,000 after buying an additional 1,315,548 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,016,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,373,925,000 after acquiring an additional 326,979 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,182,331,000 after acquiring an additional 147,931 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,502,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at $2,637,640,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim increased their target price on Accenture from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $317.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $300.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.38.

Accenture Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $240.95 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $229.40 and a twelve month high of $392.02. The stock has a market cap of $148.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $270.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.54.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.21. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.65% and a net margin of 10.76%.The company had revenue of $18.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.59 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total value of $1,008,263.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,298,380.79. This represents a 30.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 2,731 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total value of $786,883.03. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,333.41. The trade was a 27.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,031 shares of company stock valued at $4,509,304. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.