Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Lowers Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Greenwood Capital Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 21.0%, now owning 14,401 shares valued at approximately $4.3 million following a sale of 3,822 shares during the second quarter.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, up from the previous dividend of $1.48, with a dividend yield of 2.7% and a payout ratio of 48.72%.
• In its latest earnings report, Accenture reported $3.03 EPS, surpassing estimates and showing a 7.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $17.60 billion.

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,401 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,822 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 407.4% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 137 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm'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 $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $244.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $250.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $284.19. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $300.22.

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.

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