Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Down 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) were down 1.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $356.96 and last traded at $357.91. Approximately 306,839 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 2,694,103 shares. The stock had previously closed at $362.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of 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 research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Down 1.0 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $358.68 and a 200 day moving average of $331.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 1,803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Somerset Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 12,617 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,828,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Arden Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 5,671 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 132.4% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 67,573 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,519,000 after acquiring an additional 38,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,410 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after acquiring an additional 66 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.