Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Raised to “Buy” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $400.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $321.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday. 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ACN opened at $353.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $334.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.23.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during 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 last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.