Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Bought by 180 Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• 180 Wealth Advisors raised its Accenture stake by 87.7% in the third quarter, adding 8,731 shares to hold 18,689 shares valued at about $3.43 million.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Hold, with a consensus price target of $221.07; ten analysts rated the stock Buy and seventeen rated it Hold.
• Accenture beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 6.2% year over year, and increased its quarterly dividend from $1.63 to $1.71 per share.

180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 87.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,689 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,731 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,531,231 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,295,078,000 after buying an additional 143,483 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,054,682 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,110,247,000 after buying an additional 912,506 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Accenture by 120.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $690,475,000 after buying an additional 1,899,305 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,384,954 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $472,913,000 after acquiring an additional 466,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 2,196,789 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $402,825,000 after acquiring an additional 885,687 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Evercore set a $250.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. UBS Group set a $278.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on Accenture from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Accenture from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $221.07.

Key Stories Impacting Accenture

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture and Mondelēz International are applying agentic AI to redesign Mondelēz’s global order-to-cash operations, including ordering, invoicing and collections. The project showcases demand for Accenture’s AI services, though no contract value or expected revenue was disclosed. Accenture expands AI work with a major consumer goods customer
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation analysis says ACN trades at about 18 times forward earnings, below its 10-year average of 24 times, even after a strong recent rally. That could appeal to investors who see room for the valuation to recover. Accenture’s valuation analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 10,000 shares for $2.7 million, reducing his direct holdings by about 62.5%. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, so it is not necessarily a signal about his outlook for the company. Accenture CEO share sale
• Negative Sentiment: Accenture fell even as the market rose, indicating relative weakness in the session. The report describes the decline but does not point to a specific company catalyst. Accenture stock underperforms as the market gains

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $260.36 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $210.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The information technology services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $18.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 26.53%. Accenture's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.03 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.390-14.810 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Sweet purchased 12,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $245.99 per share, for a total transaction of $3,001,078.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 48,910 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,031,370.90. This trade represents a 33.23% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Catherine Hogan sold 1,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $264,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,511,200. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 18,675 shares of company stock worth $4,747,563 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc is a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments and other organizations solve operational and technology challenges. Its work includes strategy and management consulting, digital transformation, systems integration and the design, implementation and management of technology solutions.

The company serves clients across a broad range of industries and geographies. Its services span cloud computing, data and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software and platforms, business process operations, and digital marketing and customer experience.

Accenture traces its roots to the consulting business of accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

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