Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Down 0.3% - Should You Sell?

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 0.3% on Monday . The company traded as low as $359.81 and last traded at $361.55. 408,001 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 2,686,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $362.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased 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. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.09.

Accenture Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.04. The company has a market cap of $224.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, 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 directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.