Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target Raised to $270.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its target price boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from $250.00 to $270.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,MarketScreener reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

ACN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $325.00 to $270.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $348.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.21.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $271.70 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $250.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.55. Accenture has a 52 week low of $229.40 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $178.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The firm had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.47, for a total transaction of $623,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $346,763.30. The trade was a 64.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Manish Sharma sold 6,902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,725,569.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,018.60. The trade was a 78.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 33,319 shares of company stock worth $8,335,225 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lifted its position in Accenture by 13.3% during the third quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 630,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $155,371,000 after buying an additional 74,000 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 23,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,861,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 12,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Accenture by 19.5% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 299,277 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $73,802,000 after purchasing an additional 48,869 shares during the period. Finally, Tevis Investment Management lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 3,315 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.