StockNews.com Downgrades Accenture (NYSE:ACN) to Hold

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $5.79 on Friday, reaching $366.37. 6,982,683 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,711,833. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $229.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50-day moving average is $360.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 authorized 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture 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 directly owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,201 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 7,192 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.5% in the second quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 192,541 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $58,419,000 after purchasing an additional 24,322 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Accenture by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 42,456 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,882,000 after buying an additional 1,748 shares during the last quarter. 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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