Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Rating Increased to Overweight at Piper Sandler

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was upgraded by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $395.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $329.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.95% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $349.70 on Thursday. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $333.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $321.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Accenture by 38.0% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 379,060 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $115,011,000 after acquiring an additional 104,325 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 8.0% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 5,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Cim LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.6% in the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $27,862,000. 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.