First Trust Advisors LP Has $690.48 Million Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 120.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,899,305 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 0.5% of First Trust Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $690,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,687,867,000 after buying an additional 343,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 218,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 546,198 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $136.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, July 10th. William Blair cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $141.11 on Wednesday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $118.15 and a 1-year high of $291.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $155.25 and a 200-day moving average of $197.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $94.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.13.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.