Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given “Overweight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $400.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a buy rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. TD Cowen decreased 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $358.09.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $309.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $207.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $301.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $337.26. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% in the fourth 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. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Searle & CO. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.