Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Up 7.1% Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s share price was up 7.1% on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $376.91 and last traded at $372.12. Approximately 2,306,891 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 2,677,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.61.

The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 22.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 1ST Source Bank raised its stake in Accenture by 14.3% during the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 1,506 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $473,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,920,000. Castellan Group raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 8,165 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,886,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $229.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $360.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.15.

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.