Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given New $415.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $400.00 to $415.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued a neutral rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $349.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $333.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $321.23. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Accenture by 38.0% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 379,060 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $115,011,000 after purchasing an additional 104,325 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.0% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 5,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Cim LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 9.6% during the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $27,862,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.