Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Insider Sells $340,645.67 in Stock

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Angela Beatty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 23rd, Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $362.76 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $227.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $357.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

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.