Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Receives $373.32 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $374.50.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

ACN stock opened at $357.31 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $360.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.23. The stock has a market cap of $223.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,693 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,703 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,793,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,834 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 84,375 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,600,000 after buying an additional 23,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 65,678 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,927,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. 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.