Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases 14,991 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 265,109 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,991 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.1% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $79,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total transaction of $2,246,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,868,888.12. The trade was a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.25.

Accenture Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $247.58 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $244.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $229.40 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.66%.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.