Accenture (NYSE:ACN) PT Raised to $370.00 at Robert W. Baird

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective raised by Robert W. Baird from $350.00 to $370.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.80% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on ACN. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $349.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $333.92 and its 200 day moving average is $320.81. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 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.