Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 30.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 902,498 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 210,279 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.1% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $178,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after acquiring an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after purchasing an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after purchasing an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $136.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $147.04 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.99. 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 stock has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $118.15 and a twelve month high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. Accenture’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. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business 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 $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 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 owned by company insiders.

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.