Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Accenture shares (NYSE:ACN) reached a new 52-week low trading as low as $238.00 on Monday, with reduced target prices from multiple brokerages reflecting analyst concerns.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings of $3.49 per share, beating estimates, while revenue increased by 7.7% year-over-year to $17.73 billion.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing a dividend yield of 2.5%, which will be paid on August 15th to shareholders of record.

Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $238.00 and last traded at $239.85, with a volume of 452817 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $239.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $148.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue 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 year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $317,000. F M Investments LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,374,000. Finally, Seeds Investor LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Seeds Investor LLC now owns 2,295 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 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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