Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,301 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 3.1% of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $66,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth $45,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at $465,018.60. The trade was a 78.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 5,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.62, for a total transaction of $1,459,250.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,120,685.38. This trade represents a 40.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $245.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $229.40 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $244.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $273.22.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Accenture from $240.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.25.

About Accenture

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.