Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $371.18.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 4.5% in the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $356.68 on Tuesday. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $223.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $319.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Accenture

(Get Free Report

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.

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