Lbp Am Sa Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Lbp Am Sa increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 34.9%, bringing its total holdings to 293,125 shares valued at approximately $87.6 million.
• Accenture reported $3.03 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced plans to increase its quarterly dividend to $1.63 per share, reflecting a yield of 2.6%.
• Recent analyst ratings show a mixed outlook for Accenture, with target prices adjusted downwards, but an overall consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $300.22.

Lbp Am Sa raised its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 34.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 293,125 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 75,898 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.2% of Lbp Am Sa's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in Accenture were worth $87,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 125,880.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 6,299 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 6,294 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 39,589 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,353,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.8% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 15,322 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.9% during the first quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,705 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ACN opened at $246.72 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $251.91 and its 200 day moving average is $285.04. The company has a market capitalization of $154.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.72%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture 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 $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Rothschild Redb cut Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $300.22.

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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