Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $378.23.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This represents a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $304.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $190.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $356.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

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.