Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 928,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 15,216 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 3.1% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. owned about 0.14% of Accenture worth $184,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 61,314 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Accenture by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $149,582,000 after purchasing an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 4.9%

NYSE:ACN opened at $154.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $153.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $102.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 4.2%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. HSBC cut their price objective on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.

Accenture 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.