Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Cut to Neutral at BNP Paribas

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by research analysts at BNP Paribas from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $375.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock. BNP Paribas’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.82% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $357.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $223.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $323.52. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.