Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $352.33.

Several brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Mizuho decreased their price target on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $340.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $322.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.78.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. 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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.