Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Up 7.1% After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s stock price traded up 7.1% during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $376.91 and last traded at $372.12. 2,306,891 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 2,677,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.61.

The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $374.50.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 5.9% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,014 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,645,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $406,000. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Accenture by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,287 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Diversified LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc increased its position in Accenture by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 129,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $39,392,000 after purchasing an additional 9,427 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $360.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.31. The company has a market capitalization of $231.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

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.