Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Cut to "Neutral" at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $375.00 price target on the information technology services provider's stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Down 4.5 %

ACN traded down $16.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $346.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,567,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,720,674. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $216.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $323.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.