Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $2.69 Billion Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,998,826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,108 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.9% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,689,659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Accenture from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $313.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.25.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total value of $2,246,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,868,888.12. The trade was a 27.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 33,319 shares of company stock valued at $8,335,225 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $245.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.22. The stock has a market cap of $161.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $229.40 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Accenture 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.