Franklin Resources Inc. Has $2.02 Billion Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,754,721 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 193,402 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.08% of Accenture worth $2,018,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. C WorldWide Group Holding A S boosted its holdings in Accenture by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 8,148 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 436,202 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $130,376,000 after buying an additional 28,685 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,892,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in Accenture by 34.7% during the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,212,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Accenture by 6.4% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $21,187,000 after acquiring an additional 4,281 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $241.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $244.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.55. 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 1-year low of $229.40 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.Accenture’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Accenture from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 5,917 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.62, for a total value of $1,459,250.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,120,685.38. The trade was a 40.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,018.60. This trade represents a 78.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Company 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.