Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target Raised to $360.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its target price hoisted by Susquehanna from $350.00 to $360.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a neutral rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE ACN opened at $353.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $334.35 and a 200-day moving average of $320.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in Accenture by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $288,168,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $286,220,000. 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.