By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.
Accenture Trading Down 2.9 %
ACN traded down $11.54 on Thursday, reaching $386.71. 2,827,618 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,817,746. The company’s 50 day moving average is $361.34 and its 200-day moving average is $351.40. The company has a market cap of $242.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.
Read Our Latest Report on Accenture
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture
A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
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.
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