VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems has taken a new position in Accenture PLC, acquiring 153,228 shares valued at approximately $45.8 million during the second quarter.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.03 per share in its latest quarterly results, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 7.3% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company has declared an increased quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.7%, set to be paid on November 14th.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 153,228 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $45,798,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 436,202 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $130,376,000 after buying an additional 28,685 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Lipe & Dalton boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% in the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 34.7% in the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,055 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Accenture by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,887 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,187,000 after buying an additional 4,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $238.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $157.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $246.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.90.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture's payout ratio is 53.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $240.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $300.22.

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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