Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna reiterated a neutral rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $316.88 on Friday. Accenture has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $355.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after buying an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $148,871,000 after purchasing an additional 225,943 shares during the period. 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.