Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $378.91.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Accenture from $425.00 to $370.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $307.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $192.27 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $358.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $357.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.