Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given New $388.00 Price Target at Bank of America

by · The Markets Daily

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) had its price target boosted by Bank of America from $365.00 to $388.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised Accenture from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $400.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Accenture

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $353.33 on Friday. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $334.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.23.

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

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Accenture

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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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