TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 18.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,057 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,284 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $2,658,000. C WorldWide Group Holding A S boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 35.9% during the 2nd quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 8,148 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,216,850,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Accenture by 17.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 258,599 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,771,000 after purchasing an additional 38,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 20.4% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 56,130 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,777,000 after purchasing an additional 9,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $261.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 1.41. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $229.40 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $270.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $18.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.51 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 26.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.59 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Manish Sharma sold 2,731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total value of $786,883.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,333.41. This trade represents a 27.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total transaction of $1,101,650.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,523,339.98. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,934 shares of company stock worth $5,965,166. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $300.00 price target on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.38.

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.