Accenture PLC $ACN Position Trimmed by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership trimmed its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 43.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 163,462 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 126,657 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at $42,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $1,725,569.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This represents a 78.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 5,917 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.62, for a total value of $1,459,250.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,120,685.38. This trade represents a 40.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $269.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $229.40 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $247.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.46. The stock has a market cap of $177.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.26.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. The business’s 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. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 53.66%.

About Accenture

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.