Blair William & Co. IL Has $107.91 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL cut its Accenture stake by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 45,420 shares and ending with 402,199 shares valued at about $107.9 million.
• Several analysts turned more cautious on Accenture, with Susquehanna, Jefferies, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Citigroup all trimming price targets or reiterating hold/neutral views ahead of earnings.
• Accenture recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results and continues to pay a sizable dividend, while investors now look ahead to its June 18 fiscal third-quarter earnings for the next major catalyst.

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 402,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 45,420 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.07% of Accenture worth $107,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 5,797 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,555,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Opal Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $7,382,000. Rothschild Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 114.7% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Wealth LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $781,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 2,260 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Key Accenture News

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna cut its price target on Accenture to $186 from $222 and kept a neutral rating, adding to the cautious tone around the stock ahead of earnings. Susquehanna adjusts price target on Accenture
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies also lowered its target on Accenture to $185 from $210 and maintained a hold rating, reinforcing concerns that near-term upside may be limited. Jefferies adjusts price target on Accenture
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are waiting for Accenture’s fiscal third-quarter results on June 18, with expectations for revenue and EPS growth that could determine whether the recent weakness continues or reverses. Accenture set to report Q3 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture is also in the spotlight after Unilever said it is scaling AI-enabled digital twins across its manufacturing network with Accenture, highlighting ongoing enterprise AI work, though the announcement is not a major immediate catalyst. Unilever scales digital twins across global manufacturing network with Accenture
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture received an award recognizing its AI innovation across its workforce, which supports the company’s AI narrative but is unlikely to move the stock on its own. Accenture award underscores AI role

Accenture Stock Up 0.3%

ACN stock opened at $165.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $110.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $315.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $220.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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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