Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Grows Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 661,261 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,375 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.11% of Accenture worth $197,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,912,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,042,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,182,331,000 after purchasing an additional 147,931 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,998,826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,689,659,000 after buying an additional 56,108 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Accenture by 63.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,793,889,000 after buying an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth $2,637,640,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total value of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. This represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.25.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:ACN opened at $245.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $229.40 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $161.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $244.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.05.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

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.