Short Interest in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Increases By 14.7%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,210,000 shares, an increase of 14.7% from the May 15th total of 7,160,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $294.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.50.

Accenture Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $4.39 on Friday, reaching $286.71. 2,966,211 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,117,430. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $192.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $304.35 and a 200 day moving average of $338.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction 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 ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ACN. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.