Bayforest Capital Ltd Takes $665,000 Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd has acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC, purchasing 2,226 shares valued at approximately $665,000 in the second quarter.
• Accenture recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend, raising it from $1.48 to $1.63 per share, representing a 2.7% yield.
• Several analysts have adjusted their price targets for Accenture, with Morgan Stanley lowering their target from $325.00 to $271.00, while Royal Bank of Canada reduced theirs from $372.00 to $285.00.

Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,226 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $665,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new position in Accenture during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Rothschild Redb cut shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $300.22.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $243.50 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $247.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $280.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.42. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $229.40 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $152.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The firm had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.66%.

About Accenture

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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