The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $420.00 target price on the information technology services provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $370.00.
Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.09.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Accenture
Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %
Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $4.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $362.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,547,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,693,347. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $359.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $332.26. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $226.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Accenture Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.
Insider Activity at Accenture
In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Accenture
(
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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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