Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $294.25.

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Accenture from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised Accenture to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total value of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. This trade represents a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at $465,018.60. The trade was a 78.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 23,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,861,000 after buying an additional 2,625 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 12,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Accenture by 19.5% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 299,277 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $73,802,000 after acquiring an additional 48,869 shares during the last quarter. Tevis Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in the third quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 3,315 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $662,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.3%

Accenture stock opened at $269.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $247.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.46. Accenture has a twelve month low of $229.40 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.45% and a net margin of 11.02%.The business had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.66%.

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.