Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Short Interest Update

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,070,000 shares, a drop of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 7,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 167,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Searle & CO. boosted its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2 %

ACN traded up $0.67 on Tuesday, reaching $313.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,900,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,362,851. Accenture has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $210.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $358.39 and a 200-day moving average of $342.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.