Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading 1.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s stock price traded up 1.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $362.36 and last traded at $362.36. 275,274 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 2,709,974 shares. The stock had previously closed at $357.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $356.42 and a 200-day moving average of $328.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 78.6% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.