Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given New $425.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $390.00 to $425.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the information technology services provider's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price indicates a potential upside of 16.00% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $383.23.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of ACN traded down $5.79 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $366.37. The company had a trading volume of 6,982,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,711,833. Accenture has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $336.56. The company has a market capitalization of $229.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Company Profile

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.