Zacks Research Has Pessimistic View of Accenture Q2 Earnings

• Dividend Increases You Can't Miss: 10 Big-Name Stocks

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research cut their Q2 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Accenture in a report released on Thursday, April 10th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the information technology services provider will earn $2.97 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $3.20. The consensus estimate for Accenture's current full-year earnings is $12.73 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Accenture's Q4 2026 earnings at $3.32 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $13.14 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $3.57 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $3.27 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $14.09 EPS.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ACN. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.23.

• Accenture’s Stock Earnings Reveal an AI-Powered Growth Strategy

Read Our Latest Research Report on Accenture

Accenture Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of ACN opened at $289.93 on Monday. Accenture has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $334.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $351.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $181.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

• Does Microsoft Stock Have More Room to Run?

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,921 shares of company stock worth $9,876,619. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

About Accenture

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.

Further Reading

• Five stocks we like better than Accenture
• Investing In Automotive Stocks
• Why NVIDIA Stock Could Soar Despite Wall Street Downgrades
• Dividend Capture Strategy: What You Need to Know
• Top 3 Large Cap Stocks Insiders Bought in Q1: Buy, Sell, or Hold
• How to Use High Beta Stocks to Maximize Your Investing Profits
• 3 Hot New IPOs Defying the 2025 Market Slump

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Should You Invest $1,000 in Accenture Right Now?

Before you consider Accenture, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Accenture wasn't on the list.

While Accenture currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here