Short Interest in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Drops By 6.9%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the October 15th total of 6,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.6 %

ACN traded down $2.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $350.69. 284,962 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,715,014. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $355.77 and its 200 day moving average is $327.83. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.1% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 2,097 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 55.0% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department bought a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth $275,000. Delta Asset Management LLC TN lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 38,742 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,428,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.