Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Makes New $518,000 Investment in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. purchased 1,660 shares of Accenture PLC in the first quarter, valuing the investment at approximately $518,000.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48, representing an annualized yield of 2.3% and a dividend payout ratio of 47.13%.
• Accenture reported strong quarterly earnings of $3.49 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $17.73 billion, marking a 7.7% increase from the previous year.

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,660 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Sentinus LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viawealth LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.6% in the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $353.76.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $254.59. The company had a trading volume of 4,235,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,546,800. The company has a market capitalization of $159.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $269.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.92.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.