Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 20,805 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 277,098 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,805 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.2% of Sterling Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $82,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,793,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during 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 buying an additional 228,939 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in 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. lifted its stake in Accenture by 3.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,600,470,000 after buying an additional 164,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total value of $2,246,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at $5,868,888.12. This trade represents a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $241.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $275.02. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $229.40 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. Accenture’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. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Accenture from $302.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One equities 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.25.

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.