Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Journey Advisory Group LLC

Journey Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 86.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,730 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 11,274 shares during the quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,146,995,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after buying an additional 1,122,855 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,097,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Accenture by 33.5% in the fourth 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price target on Accenture in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $144.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $157.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.76. The firm has a market cap of $96.62 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.