Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Accenture's shares recently hit a new 52-week low at $272.51 during mid-day trading, down from a previous close of $278.90.
• Analysts have set a range of price targets for Accenture, with the current average target at $360.21, indicating a general outlook of a "Moderate Buy."
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a yield of 2.16%, and a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $272.51 and last traded at $272.63, with a volume of 2694170 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $278.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Down 3.9%

The firm has a market cap of $160.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $299.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.18.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.5% during the second quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 31,612 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $9,449,000 after buying an additional 5,150 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Accenture by 16.7% in the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 201,721 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $60,292,000 after purchasing an additional 28,900 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC grew its stake in Accenture by 6.7% in the second quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 1,681 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 18.6% in the second quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. now owns 1,008 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lipe & Dalton grew its stake in Accenture by 32.1% in the second quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 6,646 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by 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.