Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Shares Up 2.6% - Still a Buy?

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $371.88 and last traded at $367.44. 707,219 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 2,689,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $358.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.09.

Accenture Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $359.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $332.26. The company has a market capitalization of $227.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares during 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.