Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $307.93 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $349.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.94. Accenture has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $206.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 93.0% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 3,009 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 21.9% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the third quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 5,217 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.7% during the third quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the third quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 6,626 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.