Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Susquehanna reiterated a neutral rating and set a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $317.59 on Friday. Accenture has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $354.21 and a 200 day moving average of $342.37. The company has a market cap of $213.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by 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.