StockNews.com Downgrades Accenture (NYSE:ACN) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $308.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.14. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH raised its position in Accenture by 93.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 3,009 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 5,217 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the third quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 6,626 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.