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 note published on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on ACN. Morgan Stanley cut Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $353.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $334.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.