Carnegie Investment Counsel Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Carnegie Investment Counsel lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 22.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,859 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $2,146,995,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 84.0% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,405,683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $477,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in Accenture by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,921,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,017,000 after purchasing an additional 983,840 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Argus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $135.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $160.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $203.47. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $118.15 and a twelve month high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Company 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.