Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Sold by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 135,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 20,072 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $24,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Accenture by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,531,231 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,295,078,000 after buying an additional 143,483 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 120.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $690,475,000 after buying an additional 1,899,305 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,097,961 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Accenture by 24.3% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,384,954 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $472,913,000 after acquiring an additional 466,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in shares of Accenture by 67.6% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 2,196,789 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $402,825,000 after acquiring an additional 885,687 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Accenture

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture outlined multi-year growth and margin objectives through fiscal 2029. The targets give investors greater visibility into how the company expects to convert AI demand, managed services and digital transformation spending into sustained growth. Accenture mid-term growth targets
• Positive Sentiment: The company increased its quarterly dividend from $1.63 to $1.71 per share, or $6.84 annually, and completed a long-running share-repurchase program. The higher payout and buybacks may support valuation and shareholder returns. Accenture dividend hike and AI deals
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture expanded its AI relationships with Dell Technologies and Anthropic, launched a forward-deployed engineering program with Workday, and agreed to acquire Sagacity Solutions. The initiatives are intended to accelerate enterprise and agentic-AI deployments and broaden AI-driven customer intelligence services. Accenture expands AI partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $3.29 versus a $3.18 consensus and revenue of $18.68 billion versus $18.03 billion. However, the market’s reaction was tempered after an early advance, suggesting investors remain cautious about the pace of AI monetization. Accenture investor day market reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include cautious client spending, pricing pressure, acquisition dependence and execution challenges. Analysts also note that the recent rally may have outpaced Accenture’s moderate underlying growth, while the consensus rating remains “Hold.”
• Negative Sentiment: COO Catherine Hogan sold 700 shares worth approximately $149,968 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transaction is relatively small and scheduled, but insider selling may weigh modestly on sentiment. Accenture insider transaction

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $220.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Evercore set a $250.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $136.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.15.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO Catherine Hogan sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $264,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,511,200. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,518 shares of company stock worth $2,124,932. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $214.51 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $187.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.43. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The information technology services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $18.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.53% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.03 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.390-14.810 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 13th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 50.44%.

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

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is a global professional services company that helps organizations improve performance, modernize operations and respond to technological and market changes. Its services span strategy and consulting, technology, operations, and managed services, with expertise across industries including communications, financial services, health care, public service, retail, manufacturing and resources.

The company provides digital transformation, cloud migration, data and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, systems integration and technology implementation services.