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

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $350.00 to $415.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $361.37 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $335.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% in the first 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 last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.