Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Hits New 1-Year Low - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Accenture PLC shares reached a new 52-week low of $247.80, closing at $249.35 amidst trading of over 1.5 million shares.
• Analysts have provided a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $360.21, although HSBC recently issued a "reduce" rating at $240.00.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings beat with $3.49 EPS, exceeding expectations, while also announcing a dividend of $1.48 for shareholders.

Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $247.80 and last traded at $249.35, with a volume of 1540209 shares. The stock had previously closed at $258.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. HSBC began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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, Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $149.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $291.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $315.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is 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.