Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $300.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $382.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a neutral rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $303.58 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $300.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.15. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in 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 last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.