Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Decreases Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments Holdings cut its Accenture stake by 58.6% in the first quarter, selling 186,343 shares and leaving it with 131,524 shares valued at about $25.9 million.
• Accenture reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.80 topping estimates, while revenue rose 5.6% year over year to $18.72 billion. The company also issued FY2026 guidance of 13.780-13.900 EPS.
• The company announced a $1.63 quarterly dividend and a $2 billion share buyback program, even as analysts remain cautious overall with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $192.96.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 58.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 131,524 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 186,343 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $25,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,922,212,000 after acquiring an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,869,199,000 after acquiring an additional 546,198 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.96.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

Accenture stock opened at $144.63 on Tuesday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The firm's 50-day moving average is $155.82 and its 200-day moving average is $197.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $96.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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