Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded by Wolfe Research to “Outperform” Rating

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $425.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Accenture Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.93 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $357.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $343.77. The company has a market cap of $218.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. 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.