Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture updated its Q1 2025 guidance to EPS and its FY 2025 guidance to 12.550-12.910 EPS.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $6.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $349.70. 2,575,382 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,782,510. The stock has a market cap of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $333.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.23.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $364.64.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy 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.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.