Sei Investments Co. Buys 85,623 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 18.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 543,509 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,623 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $107,773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after purchasing an additional 93,880 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Accenture by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after buying an additional 149,357 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after buying an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $226.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $139.01 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $118.15 and a 12-month high of $291.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

About Accenture

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.