UPDATE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Reiterates Neutral Rating, Raises PT on Accenture

In a report published Friday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating on Accenture plc

, and raised its price target from $63.00 to $72.00. BofA Merrill Lynch noted, “4QF12 (Aug) sales were 1% above consensus, but EPS was in line due to a higher tax rate. 4Q bookings of $9.2bn were the highlight of the quarter. Bookings were $1.3bn above our forecast. We are raising our FY13 EPS estimate by $0.20 to $4.26 (+11% YoY) and our FY14 EPS estimate by $0.11 to $4.69 (+10% YoY). We expect ACN shares to react positively. Considering this, we think valuation is reasonable but see limited upside. We are increasing our price objective by $9 to $72 or 16.5x our CY13 EPS estimate of $4.35. This is higher than ACN's 15x historical forward multiple and our prior 15x target on solid execution. The next catalyst for ACN will be its 10/11 investor day.” Accenture plc closed on Thursday at $65.38.