ABN Amro Investment Solutions Reduces Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

ABN Amro Investment Solutions trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 27.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,665 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 19,223 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Accenture were worth $9,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,146,995,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,192,907,000 after buying an additional 1,122,855 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,405,683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $477,023,000 after buying an additional 1,097,961 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Accenture by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,921,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,017,000 after buying an additional 983,840 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Berenberg Bank reduced their price objective on Accenture from $273.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $140.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $154.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $196.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture 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.