Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 38.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,270 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,500 shares during the period. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,129,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,466,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,548 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,016,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,373,925,000 after buying an additional 326,979 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,182,331,000 after buying an additional 147,931 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,502,446,000 after buying an additional 1,148,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $2,637,640,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $240.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.75. The stock has a market cap of $148.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $229.40 and a 1-year high of $392.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.21. Accenture had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 26.65%. The firm had revenue of $18.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 13th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $366,300.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 28,207 shares in the company, valued at $7,756,925. This represents a 4.51% 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. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total transaction of $1,008,263.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,298,380.79. The trade was a 30.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 16,031 shares of company stock worth $4,509,304 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Truist Financial began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $317.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $300.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.38.

Accenture Company 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.