JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $396.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $370.00 to $396.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ACN. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $422.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $374.50.

Accenture Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $347.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $217.31 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $360.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.31. Accenture has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 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.