Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $335.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ACN. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $357.09.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $307.21 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.09. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Accenture will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 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.