Hilltop Holdings Inc. Sells 20,842 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Hilltop Holdings Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 94.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 20,842 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,146,995,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Accenture by 120.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $690,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899,305 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,405,683 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $477,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097,961 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture 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 value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $164.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.88. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09. The firm has a market cap of $109.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.