Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Given New $415.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $400.00 to $415.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Friday. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $334.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.23. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in 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 during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by 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.