Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $361.38, but opened at $348.80. Accenture shares last traded at $350.71, with a volume of 671,683 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho increased their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 3.4 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $358.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 22.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.