State of Wisconsin Investment Board Sells 6,779 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

State of Wisconsin Investment Board reduced its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 329,399 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,779 shares during the quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s holdings in Accenture were worth $88,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after purchasing an additional 129,610 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,687,867,000 after purchasing an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $222.00 to $186.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $165.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $110.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $155.82 and a 52 week high of $315.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture agreed to acquire Industries eXcellence Group from Engineering Group, a move that should strengthen its software and automation capabilities tied to Siemens Digital Industries. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture also agreed to buy Alfahealth, expanding its digital health capabilities in Italy and adding another growth avenue in healthcare transformation. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Unilever is expanding its partnership with Accenture to scale AI-enabled digital twins across its global manufacturing network, reinforcing Accenture’s AI and enterprise transformation positioning. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture is set to report fiscal third-quarter earnings on Thursday, and investors are waiting to see whether revenue and EPS growth can validate the recent weakness in the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment has cooled: Susquehanna cut its price target to $186 from $222 and Jefferies lowered its target to $185 from $210, reflecting more cautious expectations for the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Additional commentary suggests AI spending is crowding out IT services budgets, which could keep pressure on Accenture’s discretionary consulting demand. Article Title

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.