Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ACN. TD Cowen cut their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho reissued a buy rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE ACN opened at $316.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $355.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.83. Accenture has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $212.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. United Bank raised its holdings in Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the first quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.8% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $148,871,000 after acquiring an additional 225,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.