Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target Raised to $389.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $377.00 to $389.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a neutral rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $353.33 on Friday. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $334.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.23. The firm has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

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

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.