Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Purchased by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 63,014 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,756 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,182,331,000 after purchasing an additional 147,931 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 63.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,793,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490,569 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,378,000 after purchasing an additional 228,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,163,393 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,923,225,000 after buying an additional 126,548 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $302.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.25.

Accenture Stock Down 0.8%

ACN stock opened at $242.57 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $245.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $273.93. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $229.40 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $159.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $465,018.60. This represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were 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 approximately $346,763.30. The trade was a 64.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Accenture

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.