Accenture (NYSE:ACN) PT Lowered to $340.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $395.00 to $340.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $367.50.

Accenture Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ACN opened at $286.72 on Wednesday. Accenture has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $192.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.67.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Brave Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Searle & CO. increased its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.