Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Gap Down to $307.17

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $307.17, but opened at $299.92. Accenture shares last traded at $302.87, with a volume of 601,258 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.65. The stock has a market cap of $203.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, 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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $2,061,490,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Accenture by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $288,168,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $286,220,000. 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.