William Blair Comments on Accenture plc’s Q1 2026 Earnings (NYSE:ACN)

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) – Investment analysts at William Blair issued their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Accenture in a report issued on Thursday, September 26th. William Blair analyst M. Nolan forecasts that the information technology services provider will post earnings of $3.40 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Accenture’s current full-year earnings is $11.95 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Accenture’s Q2 2026 earnings at $3.17 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.56 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.55 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $13.69 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on ACN. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $352.04 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $334.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,171 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,776,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 17,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,903 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.