LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 813.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore set a $180.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, William Blair lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.87 on Friday, reaching $135.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,631,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,515,054. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $118.15 and a 52-week high of $291.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $160.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $203.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Accenture

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.