Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.23.

Accenture Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $5.79 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $366.37. The stock had a trading volume of 6,982,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,711,833. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $360.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $337.15. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $229.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Accenture by 8.4% in the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.8% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 7,192 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 14.5% in the second quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 192,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $58,419,000 after acquiring an additional 24,322 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.5% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 42,456 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is 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.