AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 8,619 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 511.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,305 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,619 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 205.9% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 39,295 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $11,745,000 after acquiring an additional 26,449 shares during the period. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its holdings in Accenture by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 2,523 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 34,673 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,365,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management grew its position in shares of Accenture by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 270,194 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $80,690,000 after buying an additional 16,184 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 9.6% in the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 26,662 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,969,000 after buying an additional 2,339 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:ACN opened at $251.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $277.05. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $229.40 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $165.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. HSBC cut their target price on Accenture from $240.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.48.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total transaction of $2,246,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at $5,868,888.12. This represents a 27.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,402 shares of company stock worth $4,595,374 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture 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.