Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 EPS.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $20.90 on Thursday, reaching $303.57. The stock had a trading volume of 4,484,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,749,621. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $361.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $357.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $189.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Accenture stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 36.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $425.00 to $370.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.45.

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.