D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 305,168 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,349 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $60,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $193.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $137.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $157.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.65. The firm has a market cap of $91.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. The firm’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, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.