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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $364.64.

Accenture Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ACN opened at $349.70 on Friday. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $219.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.40.

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 38.0% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 379,060 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $115,011,000 after purchasing an additional 104,325 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 5,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cim LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,862,000. 75.14% of the stock is 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.