IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Buys 5,150 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 31,612 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,150 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 0.8% of IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,912,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,793,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490,569 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,111,378,000 after purchasing an additional 228,939 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,163,393 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,225,000 after purchasing an additional 126,548 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,600,470,000 after buying an additional 164,573 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total value of $2,246,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,868,888.12. This represents a 27.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,402 shares of company stock valued at $4,595,374. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

ACN opened at $251.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $247.31 and a 200 day moving average of $277.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 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 firm has a market cap of $165.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS 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 given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Accenture from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup raised Accenture to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.48.

About Accenture

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.