World Investment Advisors Raises Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 34.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,953 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,834 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Accenture were worth $6,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Viawealth LLC raised its position in Accenture by 2.6% during the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 2.1% during the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.4% during the first quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in Accenture by 14.5% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 269 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Bank & Trust Co raised its position in Accenture by 0.4% during the first quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Accenture from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Accenture from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.25.

Accenture Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $248.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $163.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $229.40 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $247.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.58.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 2.6%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total transaction of $2,246,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at $5,868,888.12. The trade was a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,018.60. The trade was a 78.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 18,402 shares of company stock worth $4,595,374 over the last 90 days. 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.