Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $371.18.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Wedbush cut 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $334.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.23. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.