Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. 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, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $6.43 on Thursday, reaching $364.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,311,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,725,282. The company has a market capitalization of $228.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after buying an additional 635,349 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,786,256,000 after purchasing an additional 80,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.