Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Buy Rating

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $420.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $370.00.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on ACN. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.09.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $360.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $333.04. The company has a market capitalization of $226.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 78.6% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares during the period. M&G PLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

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.