Accenture Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ACN)

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 44,309 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 449% compared to the average daily volume of 8,073 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim began coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after buying an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 33,484.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.0 %

ACN stock opened at $313.54 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $352.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.20. Accenture has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $210.30 billion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

About Accenture

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.