Accenture PLC $ACN is Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s 9th Largest Position

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 248,950 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 2.5% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $74,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Viawealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,939,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 269 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,553,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $242.31 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $229.40 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.44.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.66 EPS. The company’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. Equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.22.

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.