Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $389.83 and last traded at $387.30, with a volume of 340739 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $385.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.22.

Accenture Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $243.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $360.05 and its 200 day moving average is $350.64.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,255 shares of company stock worth $4,756,101 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $45,104,000 after buying an additional 7,791 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 45.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,151 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in Accenture by 45.2% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 3,302 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 34,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,232,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 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.