Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,013 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,962 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 255.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 247 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.3% during the second quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,146 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $940,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Accenture

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture announced a strategic collaboration with Mistral AI to scale advanced, enterprise-grade AI across Europe and globally — a deal that reinforces Accenture’s AI services pipeline and client demand for model deployment. WSJ: Mistral lands Accenture BusinessWire: Accenture and Mistral AI
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture agreed to acquire Verum Partners to expand infrastructure and capital-projects capabilities in Latin America (mining, metals, transport, energy) — a targeted buy that supports sector-specific consulting and systems integration revenue. Yahoo Finance: Verum acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture Ventures led a $9M Series A for Profitmind, signaling continued corporate venture activity to bolster Accenture’s retail AI offerings and potential client/technology synergies. BusinessWire: Profitmind funding
• Positive Sentiment: Analysis pieces note Accenture’s fundamentals (revenue growth, margins, guidance) diverging from softer market sentiment — suggesting potential upside if market re-rates the stock to fundamentals. Seeking Alpha: Fundamentals vs sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Charts and commentary emphasize Accenture’s relative stability within the S&P 500, which may make it a defensive tech/consulting play rather than a high-volatility growth bet. Kalkine: S&P 500 stability
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary about Accenture’s role in frontier AI alliances and a cultural shift raises questions about valuation multiples — useful context for investors weighing long-term upside vs near-term multiple compression. Yahoo Finance: Frontier Alliance & valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts at Citigroup cut Accenture’s price target from $266 to $215 and kept a neutral rating, signaling less near-term upside from a major sell-side desk and potentially pressuring sentiment. Benzinga / MarketScreener: Citigroup lowers PT
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose ~24.5% in February to ~15.2M shares (≈2.5% of float), a sign some traders are betting on near-term downside or continued multiple compression — this can amplify downward moves on negative news. (short interest data summary)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.42.

Accenture Stock Up 8.3%

ACN stock opened at $207.35 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $255.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $252.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $188.73 and a 1-year high of $361.62. The firm has a market cap of $127.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $18.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.51 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 26.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.59 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.520-13.900 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 13th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $185,413.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,688 shares in the company, valued at $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,088 shares of company stock worth $5,970,434. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by 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.