Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Price Target to $194.00

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $200.00 to $194.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ACN. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. William Blair cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Accenture Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $140.12 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $93.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture has a 12-month low of $118.15 and a 12-month high of $291.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $154.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 96.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Company Profile

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.