Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $375.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $345.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.12.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 13.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 8.6% during the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.5% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 28,991 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,048,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at $5,099,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.