Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Receives $373.32 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $374.82.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $372.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $232.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.56. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

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

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.