Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture updated its Q1 2025 guidance to EPS and its FY 2025 guidance to 12.550-12.910 EPS.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $355.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $222.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.39. Accenture has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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

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.