Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 149,015 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,350 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $44,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $243.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $244.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.23. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Accenture to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.25.

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.