Waverly Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,584 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,146,995,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 120.0% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,899,305 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Evercore set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced 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. William Blair lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $147.04 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $153.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 company had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.Accenture’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. 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 announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

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

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.