Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded to “Buy” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $400.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $321.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $361.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $335.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.60.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.