Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Vanguard increased its stake in Accenture by 0.1% in Q3, buying 86,787 shares to hold 65,216,569 shares—about 9.90% of the company, valued at roughly $16.08 billion.
• Corporate insiders have been net sellers recently: CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares and Manish Sharma sold 2,731, with insiders disposing of 22,088 shares (about $5.97M) over the last 90 days and now owning just 0.02% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is a “Moderate Buy” (consensus target $298.38) after Accenture beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and issued FY2026 EPS guidance of 13.520–13.900.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,216,569 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 86,787 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.90% of Accenture worth $16,082,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake 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 worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,274 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,798,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total value of $1,101,650.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $7,523,339.98. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 2,731 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total value of $786,883.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,333.41. This trade represents a 27.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Dbs Bank raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $298.38.

Accenture Stock Up 0.9%

ACN stock opened at $224.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $137.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $266.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $254.64. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $215.16 and a 12 month high of $392.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $18.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.51 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.65% and a net margin of 10.76%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.59 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 13th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.88%.

Accenture 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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