Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $334.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.23. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 10.2% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. 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.