Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 1,053,492 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the previous session’s volume of 1,868,986 shares.The stock last traded at $362.10 and had previously closed at $351.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Accenture Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $223.87 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $343.37.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Company Profile

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.