Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given New $194.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $200.00 to $194.00 in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $144.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $155.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.97.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after acquiring an additional 129,610 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Accenture by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.