KWB Wealth Invests $547,000 in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• KWB Wealth has acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC, purchasing 1,753 shares valued at approximately $547,000 during the second quarter.
• Recent changes in analyst ratings show a broad range of opinions, with Goldman Sachs and Robert W. Baird reducing their target prices to $330, while one analyst maintains a "Strong Buy" rating.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.03 per share, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.63 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

KWB Wealth acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,753 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $547,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 407.4% during the 1st 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 bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $301.91.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $239.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The business's 50-day moving average is $253.43 and its 200 day moving average is $286.02. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $229.40 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.66%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.