Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Holdings Raised by DnB Asset Management AS

Key Points

• DnB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 271.5% to own 428,170 shares, worth approximately $133.6 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Institutional investors control 75.14% of Accenture's stock, with significant increases in holdings noted among other hedge funds like Clark Capital Management Group.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding forecasts, and has set a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share for shareholders.

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 271.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 428,170 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 312,928 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS owned about 0.07% of Accenture worth $133,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,793,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,111,378,000 after purchasing an additional 228,939 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,123,702,000 after purchasing an additional 545,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,600,470,000 after purchasing an additional 164,573 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $353.76.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, 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 value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3%

ACN stock traded up $0.84 during trading on Monday, reaching $255.79. The stock had a trading volume of 4,707,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,553,637. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $160.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $268.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $296.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Accenture 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.