Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 2,527 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 16.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,849 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,527 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 407.4% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $248.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $282.84. The company has a market capitalization of $155.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.28. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $229.40 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The company had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.22.

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.