New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in Accenture by 2.9% in Q4, selling 16,109 shares and leaving it with 531,407 shares valued at $142,576,000 (about 0.09% of the company).
• CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares under a pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plan (a ~27.6% reduction) and insiders have sold 10,943 shares worth roughly $2.33M in the past three months, a pattern that may pressure sentiment.
• Several brokers have lowered price targets (including Baird, Morgan Stanley, RBC and HSBC), but MarketBeat's consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a $274.50 consensus price target.

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 531,407 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 16,109 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Accenture worth $142,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Accenture by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank increased its position in Accenture by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Accenture by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Accenture by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Accenture

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture announced a strategic investment in Netomi to accelerate enterprise adoption of agentic AI for customer experience — a move that supports Accenture’s growth strategy in high‑value AI services and could bolster revenue and competitive positioning over time. Accenture Invests in Netomi
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage highlights Accenture as a top‑ranked growth stock (Zacks), which can support investor interest and provide a counterweight to negative sentiment if analysts maintain favorable ratings. Accenture is a Top‑Ranked Growth Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Market previews and commentary ahead of earnings keep expectations in focus but don’t provide new earnings data; these pieces maintain attention on upcoming results rather than changing fundamentals immediately. Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑term market moves have seen ACN bounce relative to broader weakness on some days, signaling that intraday/market flows—not new company fundamentals—are also affecting price action. Accenture Rises As Market Takes a Dip
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares (~27.6% reduction in his reported holding) under a pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plan; while Rule 10b5‑1 execution lessens alarm, large insider reductions can weigh on sentiment and be interpreted negatively by some investors. SEC Filing: CEO Sale
• Negative Sentiment: A Yahoo/market note highlights a roughly 38% one‑year share price fall, reinforcing the narrative that Accenture’s stock faces valuation pressure and heightened investor caution which can depress buying interest until catalysts emerge. Is It Time To Reconsider Accenture?

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC dropped their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $178.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $119.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.90. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $173.65 and a 12-month high of $325.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture's payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,963.65. This trade represents a 28.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 10,943 shares of company stock worth $2,327,545 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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