Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

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.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.09.

Accenture Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $3.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $359.65. 2,185,014 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,694,903. The firm's fifty day moving average is $360.26 and its 200-day moving average is $333.42. Accenture has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % 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. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $8,920,000. Castellan Group grew its stake 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 worth $2,886,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $18,115,000. 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.

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