Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,046,197 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,758 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.46% of Accenture worth $604,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.7% in the 4th 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 lifted 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 valued at $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Accenture by 36.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth 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 raised its position in Accenture by 12.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Accenture from $200.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. HSBC lowered their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $144.63 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $155.82 and its 200 day moving average is $197.97. The stock has a market cap of $96.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $118.15 and a 52-week high of $291.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 52.08%.

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 insiders.

Accenture 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.