Welch Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,300 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,263,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.9% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 314,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $95,293,000 after purchasing an additional 23,021 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 11,004 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 88,780 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,536,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 16,983 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,076,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $241.11 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $247.45 and its 200-day moving average is $281.18. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $229.40 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $151.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.22.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.