Maple Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,723 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 2.7% of Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $34,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $243.99 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $264.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $236.67 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Rothschild Redb lowered Accenture from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “reduce” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $342.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $346.92.

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.