Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Rating Upgraded by TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. TD Cowen currently has $400.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $321.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $361.37 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $226.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $335.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.60. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 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.