Diversify Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Diversify Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 52.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,922 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in 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 valued at $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 197.2% during 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 buying an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Accenture by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $149,582,000 after buying an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Accenture by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $89,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ACN. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $226.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $134.71 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $158.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.96 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $118.15 and a 52-week high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 company insiders.

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.