Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Archer Investment Corp

Archer Investment Corp cut its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 92.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 342 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,913 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $68,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 773,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $153,374,000 after buying an additional 9,023 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 300,080 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $59,503,000 after acquiring an additional 63,130 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 15.6% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 23,528 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 65.7% in the first quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,359 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 3,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 16,848 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,341,000 after purchasing an additional 4,765 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. William Blair downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank lowered their price target on Accenture from $273.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $137.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $157.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.65. 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 twelve month low of $118.15 and a twelve month high of $291.09. The company has a market capitalization of $91.52 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

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

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.