Barclays Raises Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $415.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $350.00 to $415.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.77% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ACN. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $2.68 on Monday, hitting $352.38. 688,521 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,771,150. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.40. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other 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 transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during 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. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.