Hsbc Global Res Upgrades Accenture (NYSE:ACN) to Moderate Sell

Key Points

• Accenture's stock rating was upgraded to a "moderate sell" by HSBC Global Research, amid various analysts providing updated price targets and ratings on the stock.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, exceeding analysts' estimates of $3.32, with revenues of $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• Insiders, including CEO Mauro Macchi, recently sold shares of Accenture, resulting in a 3.72% decrease in Angela Beatty's ownership and a 17.97% reduction in Macchi's stake.

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) to a moderate sell rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on ACN. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of ACN stock traded down $4.83 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $274.07. 4,270,498 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $300.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $321.07. Accenture has a one year low of $272.39 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $450,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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.