Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Purchased by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 180,282 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,762 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Accenture were worth $35,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 23.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. HSBC lowered 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. TD Cowen downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Accenture Trading Up 6.0%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $147.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $153.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.99. The stock has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. 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 is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.