UBS Group Increases Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $415.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target increased by UBS Group from $400.00 to $415.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

ACN has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $364.64.

Accenture Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ACN opened at $349.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.40. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Accenture by 38.0% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 379,060 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $115,011,000 after acquiring an additional 104,325 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 5,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cim LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter worth $27,862,000. 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.