Accenture (NYSE:ACN) CEO Sells $2,246,130.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Accenture CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of stock worth over $2.2 million, reducing her ownership by 27.68%.
• The company recently reported earnings per share of $3.03, exceeding analyst expectations, and announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share.
• Accenture's stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with a price target set at $297.48.

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total transaction of $2,246,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,868,888.12. The trade was a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2%

ACN stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $249.59. 2,879,678 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,867,859. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $164.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.05. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 53.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $297.48.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Investors Research Corp increased its position in Accenture by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 106 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 132.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Accenture by 146.0% during the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 123 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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.

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