Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 42.0% in the first quarter, accumulating a total of 7,256 shares valued at approximately $2.26 million.
• Analysts have adjusted their price targets for Accenture, with Barclays and BMO Capital Markets reducing theirs to $360.00 and $325.00 respectively, while the stock holds an average rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the most recent quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue also surpassing expectations at $17.73 billion.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 42.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,256 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,145 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $358.08.

Accenture Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $4.9040 on Friday, hitting $258.8940. 3,102,553 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,885,374. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $236.67 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $277.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.