Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $371.18.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Barclays raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. 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 note on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its position in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $19,007,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Accenture by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $87,566,000 after buying an additional 12,993 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

ACN opened at $360.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $226.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $349.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.81.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.