Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Raised to "Buy" at StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.93 on Monday. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock's 50-day moving average is $357.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $344.30. The stock has a market cap of $218.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RMR Wealth Builders raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 5,437 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 652 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 745 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $349,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.