Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 7.3% during the first quarter, resulting in approximately $90.3 million worth of shares in the company.
• Several other institutional investors also enhanced their positions in Accenture, contributing to a total institutional ownership of 75.14% of the company's stock.
• Accenture recently reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations, with $3.49 EPS for the quarter, and set guidance for Q4 2025 at approximately 12.77-12.89 EPS.

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 289,507 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 19,725 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.7% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $90,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,793,889,000 after buying an additional 3,490,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $19,912,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $450,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,135 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $1.97 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $257.39. 2,125,766 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,549,882. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $236.67 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.72. The stock has a market cap of $161.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29.

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 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. 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. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $358.08.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% 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 worth $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.