Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Lowers Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 42.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,230 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,572 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after acquiring an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after purchasing an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. 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 note on Monday, June 22nd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of ACN opened at $135.19 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $160.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $118.15 and a 12-month high of $291.09.

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

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

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.