Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $6.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $349.70. The stock had a trading volume of 2,567,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,782,510. Accenture has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.39. The firm 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.

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

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.