Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.77.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $7.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $337.49. 5,899,333 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,197,268. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.20. Accenture has a one year low of $259.30 and a one year high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $370.57 and its 200 day moving average is $339.99.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 29.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, Director Jaime Ardila sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.18, for a total value of $1,059,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,023,426.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Jaime Ardila sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.18, for a total transaction of $1,059,540.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,023,426.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,000 shares of company stock worth $9,549,498. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. M3 Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Walden Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,040,000. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 70.42% 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.