Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

ACN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $356.18 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $359.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.