Brokerages Set Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Target Price at $358.09

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $352.74.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $303.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $203.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $300.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.10.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

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.