Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $5.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $353.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,029,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,142,406. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.22. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $221.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.