Accenture plc (ACN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.48 on November 15th

by · The Markets Daily

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of 1.48 per share by the information technology services provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29.

Accenture has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Accenture has a payout ratio of 46.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Accenture to earn $12.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.8%.

Accenture Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $356.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $319.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Accenture

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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