UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Purchases 11,436 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 61.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 30,185 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,436 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ACN. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $3.87 on Friday, reaching $135.19. 7,631,871 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,515,054. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Accenture

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.