Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $330.00 price target on the information technology services provider's stock.
A number of other research analysts have also commented on ACN. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.43.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN
Accenture Stock Performance
Accenture stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $282.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,207,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,926,240. Accenture has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $176.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $306.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.21.
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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 47.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $594,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $106,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 318,517 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $112,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,744 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Company Profile
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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.
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