HSBC Cuts Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $210.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price target lowered by HSBC from $220.00 to $210.00 in a report published on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $194.02 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $205.05 and its 200-day moving average is $240.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $129.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a twelve month low of $177.50 and a twelve month high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. The trade was a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $185,413.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,331 shares of company stock valued at $4,048,871. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after acquiring an additional 129,610 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after acquiring an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Accenture by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after acquiring an additional 546,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.