Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Up 7.1% Following Strong Earnings

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) shot up 7.1% on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $376.91 and last traded at $372.12. 2,306,891 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 2,677,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.61.

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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $374.82.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. 1ST Source Bank raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.3% in the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 1,506 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $473,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $8,920,000. Castellan Group increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 8,165 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,555,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $232.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $360.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.31.

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.