&PARTNERS Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

&PARTNERS boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 211,355 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,987 shares during the quarter. &PARTNERS’s holdings in Accenture were worth $56,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank increased its stake in Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $222.00 to $186.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.85.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $165.84 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.51. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $155.82 and a 12-month high of $315.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $110.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

More Accenture News

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna cut its price target on Accenture to $186 from $222 and kept a neutral rating, adding to the cautious tone around the stock ahead of earnings. Susquehanna adjusts price target on Accenture
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies also lowered its target on Accenture to $185 from $210 and maintained a hold rating, reinforcing concerns that near-term upside may be limited. Jefferies adjusts price target on Accenture
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are waiting for Accenture’s fiscal third-quarter results on June 18, with expectations for revenue and EPS growth that could determine whether the recent weakness continues or reverses. Accenture set to report Q3 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture is also in the spotlight after Unilever said it is scaling AI-enabled digital twins across its manufacturing network with Accenture, highlighting ongoing enterprise AI work, though the announcement is not a major immediate catalyst. Unilever scales digital twins across global manufacturing network with Accenture
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture received an award recognizing its AI innovation across its workforce, which supports the company’s AI narrative but is unlikely to move the stock on its own. Accenture award underscores AI role

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.