Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 7.0%, acquiring an additional 23,734 shares, bringing its total to 361,408 shares valued at approximately $112.77 million.
• Accenture reported $3.49 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $3.32, with a revenue of $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% year-over-year increase.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, yielding 2.3%, and the dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 361,408 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,734 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Accenture worth $112,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Lipe & Dalton grew its stake in Accenture by 2,087.4% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $321,000. United Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $758,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $317,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE ACN traded down $3.98 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $255.99. 3,537,430 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,542,619. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.30. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $272.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $300.49.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% 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 valued at $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $358.08.

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.