Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Reaches New 12-Month Low - Here's Why

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.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Accenture Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $296.96 and a 200-day moving average of $318.45. The firm has a market cap of $157.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $947,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 631 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 1,495 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,079,213 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,435,027,000 after purchasing an additional 24,587 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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.

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