Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Price

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus has lowered its target price for Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from $355.00 to $315.00, but maintains a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 32.81% from the current stock price.
• Accenture's stock performance reflects a drop, trading at $237.19, significantly lower than its 52-week high of $398.35 and near its 52-week low of $235.85.
• Despite recent price target downgrades by multiple analysts, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $342.72.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $355.00 to $315.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the information technology services provider's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price objective points to a potential upside of 32.81% from the stock's current price.

ACN has been the subject of several other research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Rothschild Redb cut Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Accenture from $290.00 to $260.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $342.72.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $237.19. 1,582,940 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,577,638. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $261.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture has a 52 week low of $235.85 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 5.8% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,665 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,590,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 101,585 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $30,650,000 after buying an additional 29,914 shares during the period. Total Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $50,000. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $1,244,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Promus Capital LLC now owns 2,280 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. 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.

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