Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Sells 69,678 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 95.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,942 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 69,678 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7%

ACN stock opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $156.38 and a 200 day moving average of $199.36.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in 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 usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture 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.