Heritage Investors Management Corp Purchases 5,366 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Heritage Investors Management Corp lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,231 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after buying an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after acquiring an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in Accenture by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. HSBC reduced their price objective on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 19th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $137.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $91.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $307.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.