Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $371.18.

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $334.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

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.