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

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $368.23.

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. This represents a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.85 on Wednesday. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $221.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $328.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

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.