Accenture Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ACN)

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 44,309 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 449% compared to the average daily volume of 8,073 put options.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE ACN traded down $3.29 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $313.54. 4,125,479 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,408,188. The company has a market capitalization of $210.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $342.20. Accenture has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.