Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Raises Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 40.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 581,902 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 166,688 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.09% of Accenture worth $173,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Viawealth LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.6% in the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its position in Accenture by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 269 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Accenture by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. The trade was a 64.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.25.

Accenture Trading Up 4.6%

NYSE:ACN opened at $251.87 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $244.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.16. The stock has a market cap of $165.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. 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 12 month low of $229.40 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Accenture’s payout ratio 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.