Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given Buy Rating at UBS Group

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at UBS Group in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $395.00 price objective on the information technology services provider's stock, up from their previous price objective of $390.00. UBS Group's price objective points to a potential upside of 24.91% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Accenture Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:ACN opened at $316.22 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $302.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $340.47. Accenture has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $198.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Accenture by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Professional Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.