Equitable Trust Co. Sells 3,899 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Equitable Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 57.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,846 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,899 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $2,146,995,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 84.0% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,405,683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $477,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,921,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,052,017,000 after purchasing an additional 983,840 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Argus cut their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $193.19.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.8%

ACN traded down $3.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $135.19. The company had a trading volume of 7,631,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,515,054. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.94. The stock has a market cap of $90.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.