Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,400,000 shares, a decline of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.
Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %
Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $352.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $357.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.
Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies restated a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on ACN
Insider Transactions at Accenture
In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 5,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm'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 $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Company Profile
(
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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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