Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $371.18.

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $360.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $226.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $349.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.81.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.