Guggenheim Raises Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $395.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective increased by Guggenheim from $380.00 to $395.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $353.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $334.35 and a 200 day moving average of $320.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,171 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evoke Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 4,694 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 276 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.