Stephens Inc. AR Sells 15,206 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR sharply reduced its Accenture stake in the first quarter, selling 15,206 shares and cutting its position by 71.4% to 6,087 shares worth about $1.29 million.
• Accenture’s latest quarterly earnings beat EPS estimates at $3.80 per share, though revenue came in slightly below expectations at $18.72 billion.
• The company boosted shareholder returns with a $1.63 quarterly dividend and a new $2 billion share repurchase authorization, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold.

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 71.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 15,206 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after acquiring an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $193.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $138.93 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $292.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $92.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.18 and a 200 day moving average of $204.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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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