Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 14.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 380,511 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 48,766 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Accenture worth $113,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 2.1% in the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Texas Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the first quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Norway Savings Bank grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.9% during the second quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 4,123 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Accenture by 4.4% in the second quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 854 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.8% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 4,902 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total value of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $266.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $248.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.73. The stock has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.26. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $229.40 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.25.

Accenture Company 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.