Accenture (NYSE:ACN) PT Raised to $395.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target hoisted by Guggenheim from $380.00 to $395.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

ACN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $334.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.23.

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

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board 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 paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 214.8% in the first 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 position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.