Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 92.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,445 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 31,884 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,146,995,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,405,683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $477,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,921,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,017,000 after buying an additional 983,840 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. TD Cowen cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore set a $180.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $143.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $156.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.86. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $118.15 and a 52-week high of $291.09. The firm has a market cap of $95.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

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.