Balentine LLC Reduces Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Balentine LLC decreased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 71.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 978 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,410 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 27,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,875,974 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $250.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $246.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $276.12. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $229.40 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Accenture from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Accenture from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Accenture from $302.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.25.

About Accenture

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.