Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Now Covered by Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $410.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 29th. Citigroup reissued a buy rating and set a $358.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, September 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $332.00 to $322.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $337.26.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $327.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $205.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $309.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $307.39. Accenture has a one year low of $242.80 and a one year high of $330.43.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 28th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.07 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 29.74%. Accenture’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 28th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 12th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 11th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.91%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.68, for a total value of $2,832,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,442,864.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.68, for a total value of $2,832,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,442,864.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total transaction of $1,567,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,265 shares in the company, valued at $6,048,697.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,334 shares of company stock valued at $10,939,027 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Accenture by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 260,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $79,892,000 after acquiring an additional 45,882 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 7,715 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,369,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Camarda Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 10.0% during the third quarter. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,386 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,654,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.42% 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.