Royal Bank of Canada Raises Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $389.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $377.00 to $389.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.08% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on ACN. TD Cowen increased their target price on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.95.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $356.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 197,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,769,797. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $223.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $333.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.39.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in Accenture by 11.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners raised its stake in Accenture by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $19,007,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently 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.