Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target Raised to $396.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) had its price target upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $370.00 to $396.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider's stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $374.50.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $357.06. 2,268,082 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,678,936. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $360.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.20. The company has a market cap of $223.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The company's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.