Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $294.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on Accenture from $250.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Accenture from $348.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 24th.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.57, for a total value of $2,246,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,868,888.12. This trade represents a 27.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,725,569.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at $465,018.60. The trade was a 78.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,402 shares of company stock worth $6,875,974. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Investors Research Corp raised its position in Accenture by 73.8% in the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 106 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 132.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Accenture by 146.0% in the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 123 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $242.98 on Wednesday. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $229.40 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $246.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $275.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $159.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.66%.

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.