Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Avity Investment Management Inc.

Avity Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 80,976 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,314 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.5% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 30,261 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,119,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Accenture by 284.6% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 16,252 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,360,000 after buying an additional 12,026 shares in the last quarter. Granite Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $596,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 147,471 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $39,566,000 after acquiring an additional 4,132 shares during the period. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 43.9% during the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,762 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Accenture

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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, HSBC raised Accenture from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.88.

Accenture Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $192.60 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $225.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.67. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $187.00 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71. The firm has a market cap of $118.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This trade represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total transaction of $786,883.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,333.41. This trade represents a 27.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 22,088 shares of company stock worth $5,970,434 in the last quarter. Company 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.