Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Position Boosted by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 26.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,443,886 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 306,303 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $286,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 46.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% during 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 period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position 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 worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $147.04 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $153.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.50. The stock has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 15th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

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.