BMO Capital Markets Lowers Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $325.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $355.00 to $325.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "market perform" rating on the information technology services provider's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price indicates a potential upside of 8.10% from the company's current price.

ACN has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.75.

Accenture Trading Up 1.9%

ACN traded up $5.66 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $300.66. 4,940,091 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,342,766. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $307.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Accenture by 63.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,793,889,000 after buying an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is 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.