J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 50.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,260 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,318 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,129,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,466,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,548 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,016,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,373,925,000 after buying an additional 326,979 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,182,331,000 after buying an additional 147,931 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,502,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter worth about $2,637,640,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $317.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $300.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.38.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $240.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $148.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $270.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.54. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $229.40 and a 1 year high of $392.02.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $18.74 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.59 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total value of $1,008,263.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,298,380.79. The trade was a 30.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $366,300.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 28,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,756,925. This represents a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,031 shares of company stock valued at $4,509,304. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.