Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $370.71.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $302.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $189.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 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. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $309.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $330.41. Accenture has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norway Savings Bank increased its stake in Accenture by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 4,123 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 17,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $5,209,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $932,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH lifted its position in Accenture by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 129,667 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $38,756,000 after acquiring an additional 5,388 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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