Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Up 1.2% – Time to Buy?

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s stock price rose 1.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $363.50 and last traded at $362.92. Approximately 323,651 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 2,706,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $358.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $330.24. The company has a market capitalization of $226.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Castellan Group increased its position in Accenture by 4.1% during the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 8,165 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,886,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $18,115,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 12.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 101,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,375,000 after purchasing an additional 10,961 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 474 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.