Groupe la Francaise Buys 119,859 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 183.2% during Q1, acquiring an additional 119,859 shares, raising its total holdings to 185,292 shares valued at approximately $53.97 million.
• Accenture's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $3.49 earnings per share and a revenue of $17.73 billion, marking a 7.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company's dividend yield stands at 2.3% after declaring a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a current dividend payout ratio of 47.13%.

Groupe la Francaise raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 183.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 185,292 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 119,859 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.1% of Groupe la Francaise's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Accenture were worth $53,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Accenture by 63.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,490,569 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Accenture by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after acquiring an additional 732,769 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during 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. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 9.9% during 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. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.9%

ACN stock opened at $258.8940 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $162.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $307.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 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 $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

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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