Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG significantly increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 197.4%, owning a total of 7,257 shares valued at approximately $2.17 million.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.63, which represents a boost from its previous dividend and offers a yield of 2.7%.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Accenture, with an average price target of $300.22.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 197.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,257 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.7% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,187 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 30.1% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 119,916 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $37,419,000 after buying an additional 27,769 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,863 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,206,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atwater Malick LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Atwater Malick LLC now owns 39,021 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,176,000 after acquiring an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 26th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Rothschild Redb lowered Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $300.22.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:ACN opened at $245.39 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $249.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $283.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $229.40 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 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 company's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 48.72%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% 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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