Syntax Research Inc. Makes New Investment in Accenture PLC $ACN

Syntax Research Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,990,000. Accenture accounts for about 1.4% of Syntax Research Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $42,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 407.4% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 137 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $43,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $244.58 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $250.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.19. The firm has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.28. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $229.40 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction 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 trade 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 link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. HSBC dropped their target price on Accenture from $240.00 to $215.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. 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 report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Accenture from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $300.22.

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.

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