Robert W. Baird Boosts Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $370.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target lifted by Robert W. Baird from $350.00 to $370.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ACN. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Friday. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $334.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.23. The company has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other 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.