Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target Lowered to $325.00 at Morgan Stanley

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Rating) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $340.00 to $325.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

ACN has been the topic of several other reports. Cowen boosted their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $290.00 to $279.00 in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Accenture from $310.00 to $290.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, January 30th. They set an equal weight rating and a $289.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $316.50.

Accenture Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $250.00 on Wednesday. Accenture has a twelve month low of $242.80 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $273.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.04. The firm has a market cap of $157.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 16th. The information technology services provider reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 31.49% and a net margin of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $15.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture will post 11.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 10,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $2,892,455.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,405,306.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 10,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total value of $2,892,455.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,405,306.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.08, for a total transaction of $1,449,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,509,299.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,015 shares of company stock valued at $10,884,179. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,473,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,045,274,000 after purchasing an additional 816,734 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 46,363,742 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $11,929,391,000 after acquiring an additional 319,707 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Accenture by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,582 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Accenture by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,366,391 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,266,478,000 after acquiring an additional 409,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,271,540 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,002,625,000 after acquiring an additional 223,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.97% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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Accenture Plc engages in the provision of management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe and Growth Markets. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.