Royal Fund Management LLC Acquires Shares of 3,881 Accenture PLC $ACN

Royal Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,881 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,600,470,000 after buying an additional 164,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 15,040 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,604,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:ACN opened at $269.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $247.47 and a 200-day moving average of $267.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.33 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.26. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $229.40 and a 52 week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.25.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 5,917 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.62, for a total transaction of $1,459,250.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,120,685.38. The trade was a 40.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total value of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.