Howard Capital Management Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 2.0% in Q2, now holding over 112,000 shares valued at approximately $33.76 million.
• Accenture recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $1.48 to $1.63, marking an annualized dividend yield of 2.7%.
• Analysts have updated their ratings on Accenture, with a majority maintaining a buy rating, while several firms adjusted their price targets downwards, with the average target now at $301.91.

Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 112,944 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,175 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 2.3% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Howard Capital Management Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $33,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Redwood Investments LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the 1st quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 40.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,633 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $30,777,000 after acquiring an additional 28,446 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH raised its position in Accenture by 4.3% in the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 129,667 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $38,756,000 after acquiring an additional 5,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in Accenture by 1.5% in the second quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 234,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $69,960,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were 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 owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Accenture from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $301.91.

Accenture Trading Up 3.0%

Accenture stock opened at $239.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $149.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $229.40 and a 52 week high of $398.35. 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 50-day moving average price of $253.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share 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 is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. 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. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

About Accenture

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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