Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,618,587 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 31,976 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Accenture were worth $320,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Twelve 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $143.56 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $156.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.36. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The stock has a market cap of $95.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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.