Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Get Rating) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush issued their FY2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Accenture in a report released on Thursday, June 22nd. Wedbush analyst M. Katri forecasts that the information technology services provider will earn $11.59 per share for the year. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $300.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Accenture’s current full-year earnings is $11.59 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Accenture’s Q4 2023 earnings at $2.97 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $3.31 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $3.42 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $3.52 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $3.22 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $13.47 EPS.
A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ACN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $289.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Accenture from $306.00 to $358.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $311.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.55.
Accenture Stock Performance
ACN stock opened at $298.43 on Monday. Accenture has a one year low of $242.80 and a one year high of $327.93. The company has a market capitalization of $188.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $291.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.18.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.49 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 11.28%. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 EPS.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Callan Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.0% in the first quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $7,164,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 48.3% during the first quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,015 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $292,000. 73.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Accenture
In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.05, for a total value of $827,267.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,742.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.05, for a total transaction of $827,267.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,849,742.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.82, for a total value of $153,911.92. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 42,739 shares in the company, valued at $11,831,009.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,010 shares of company stock worth $4,180,030 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 13th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 12th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.93%.
About Accenture
Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, interactive, 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 comprises 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 comprises turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.