109,836 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN Purchased by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 109,836 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,454,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the third quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 18,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,317,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 94.9% during the third quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,791 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Integras Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the third quarter. Integras Partners LLC now owns 12,997 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,383,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $492,000. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 13,921 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Evercore set a $250.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $165.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $242.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Accenture from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $221.07.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $264.37 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09. The company has a market capitalization of $156.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $207.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The information technology services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $18.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.53% and a net margin of 11.28%. Accenture’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.03 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.390-14.810 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 13th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 50.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $202,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,455,000. This represents a 7.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 5,844 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.84, for a total value of $1,430,844.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,338.96. This trade represents a 83.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,675 shares of company stock worth $2,047,563. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc is a global professional services company that helps organizations transform their businesses through consulting, technology and managed services. Its work spans strategy and consulting, technology implementation, operations, and interactive customer experiences.

The company provides services in areas including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data and analytics, digital engineering, enterprise software, systems integration and business process outsourcing.