Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Gap Down to $307.17

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) shares gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $307.17, but opened at $299.92. Accenture shares last traded at $302.87, with a volume of 601,258 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market cap of $203.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $300.69 and its 200 day moving average is $336.65.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.