Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Price Down 0.3% – What’s Next?

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) traded down 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $357.92 and last traded at $360.05. 256,648 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 2,707,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $361.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $356.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $329.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.