Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Increased to Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $400.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ACN. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $351.82.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $329.19 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $300.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.05. The stock has a market cap of $206.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction 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 approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,276 shares of company stock valued at $4,103,233. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in 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 last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.