Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ACN. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $300.92 on Friday. Accenture has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $201.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $347.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.34.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction of $766,562.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,445,775.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 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.