Accenture Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ACN)

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 16,951 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 22% compared to the average volume of 13,892 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $26,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $12.34 on Wednesday, hitting $157.43. 7,297,433 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,258,124. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $193.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.98. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $324.00. The firm has a market cap of $104.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

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.