Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Acquires 6,785 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,540 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,785 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.3% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after acquiring an additional 129,610 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after acquiring an additional 218,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $136.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, July 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Berenberg Bank cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $273.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Accenture Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $143.56 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.86. The company has a market cap of $95.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 1.49 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture 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.