Brokerages Set Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) PT at $373.32

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $383.23.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $366.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $360.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.49.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. This represents a 22.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its position in Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.