Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

ACN has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $316.88 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $355.21 and its 200-day moving average is $342.08. Accenture has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $212.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,500 shares of company stock valued at $12,276,123 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 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.