Piper Sandler Lowers Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $355.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $364.00 to $355.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 25.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ACN. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $282.28 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $328.38 and a 200-day moving average of $350.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,778 shares of company stock valued at $8,408,087 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 142.6% during the 1st quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,440 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,803,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,190,000. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,628,000. Finally, Louisbourg Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 10,985 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,130 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.