Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Down 0.2% - Time to Sell?

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) fell 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $355.17 and last traded at $356.75. 721,946 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 2,669,889 shares. The stock had previously closed at $357.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $374.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $217.31 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $360.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted 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. 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.