Definition: On Wall Street, the term accumulate has a slightly different definition depending upon who is using it. Accumulate is a "rating" by either a broker or an analyst, which means that shares in a company should not be liquidated or sold, but an investor should add more shares to their portfolio if they have the chance. It can be read as a very weak buy recommendation. In some cases, it means that a big investor has been buying up shares of a company for his or her own account.
Examples:
Warren Buffett has been accumulating shares of Coca-Cola for Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. The analysts at Goldman Sachs recommends investors accumulate shares of Wal-Mart due to attractive valuation.
