Accenture PLC $ACN Holdings Lowered by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 88.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,712 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 254,636 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after acquiring an additional 118,460 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,502,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,970 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after buying an additional 790,580 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at $2,216,850,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.9%

ACN opened at $192.60 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $187.00 and a 1-year high of $325.71. The business has a 50 day moving average of $225.44 and a 200-day moving average of $244.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Key Accenture News

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture launched Cyber.AI, an AI-driven cybersecurity platform powered by Anthropic’s Claude, positioning ACN to capture enterprise spend on AI-native security operations and managed detection/response. Accenture and Anthropic Team to Help Organizations Secure, Scale AI-Driven Cybersecurity Operations
• Positive Sentiment: UBS highlighted the Accenture–Anthropic cybersecurity tie-up as supportive of ACN’s AI strategy, reinforcing analyst confidence that the new offering strengthens long-term growth potential in AI security. Accenture-Anthropic cybersecurity partnership seen strengthening AI thesis, says UBS
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture invested in and partnered with DaVinci Commerce to bring agentic AI commerce capabilities into Accenture Song, expanding addressable market in digital transactions and commerce automation. This supports the company’s push to monetize AI agents across enterprise functions. ACN Continues to Focus on AI Development: Is it a Growth Catalyst?
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated a Buy and pointed to record bookings (~$22B) and better-than-expected Q2 results as signs of durable demand — a near-term fundamental positive even as costs rise. Accenture (ACN) Rated Buy on Strong Bookings Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary (Zacks/Yahoo) urges retaining ACN for steady growth from AI-driven cybersecurity, cloud and public sector wins but flags margin pressures from rising costs — a mix of upside from revenue drivers and near-term margin risk. Here’s Why You Should Retain Accenture Stock in Your Portfolio Now
• Negative Sentiment: A peer-comparison piece notes SAIC currently looks stronger on valuation, backlog and recent price performance — highlighting competitive and valuation pressures that could weigh on ACN’s stock multiple. ACN vs. SAIC: Which IT Services Stock Holds an Edge at Present?
• Negative Sentiment: Technically, ACN is trading below its 50- and 200-day moving averages and volume is lighter than average — factors that can amplify downward pressure when investors rotate out after prior gains.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,963.65. The trade was a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total value of $185,413.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

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.