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

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

ACN has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a buy rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $300.92 on Friday. Accenture has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $347.09 and a 200 day moving average of $342.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related 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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.