Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 2.5%, now holding 97,135 shares worth approximately $29 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Accenture announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.63 per share, payable on November 14th, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.7%.
• Analysts have downgraded Accenture's price targets significantly, with BMO Capital Markets lowering it from $325 to $270, while the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy."

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. decreased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,135 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,523 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $29,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 407.4% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 137 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Accenture from $302.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $300.22.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4%

ACN stock opened at $245.39 on Friday. 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 PLC has a 12-month low of $229.40 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $153.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average is $249.57 and its 200 day moving average is $283.65.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 48.72%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture 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.

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