Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS Acquires New Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,844 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 121.0% during the 1st quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 4,432 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,764 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,117,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1,099.4% during the 1st quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,339 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 9,477 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in Accenture by 7.4% during the first quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 62,959 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,484,000 after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Finally, Florida Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 28.9% in the first quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,009 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price 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. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. William Blair downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $141.11 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.