JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $370.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $376.00 to $370.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ACN. UBS Group raised shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $349.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $219.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $333.92 and a 200 day moving average of $321.23.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. 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. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 379,060 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $115,011,000 after purchasing an additional 104,325 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.0% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 5,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 9.6% in the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth $27,862,000. Institutional investors 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.