Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Purchased by Howe & Rusling Inc.

Key Points

• Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 27.5%, acquiring an additional 2,786 shares, bringing its total holdings to 12,916 shares valued at $4,030,000.
• Accenture's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $3.49 earnings per share and revenue of $17.73 billion, a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• Several analysts have adjusted their target prices for Accenture, with UBS Group raising its target to $395.00 while Guggenheim lowered it to $335.00, indicating diverse outlooks on the stock's performance.

Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 27.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,916 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,786 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its position in Accenture by 116.1% during the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 5,143 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,809,000 after acquiring an additional 2,763 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 145,395 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $51,149,000 after acquiring an additional 8,703 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $36,116,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $8,430,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $346.92.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ACN opened at $243.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $264.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

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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