Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Receives “Hold” Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their hold rating on shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in a report published on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI set a $280.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $260.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $300.22.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $246.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $251.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.04. Accenture has a 52 week low of $229.40 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.34 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.72%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Investments LLC grew its position in Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,892,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Lipe & Dalton grew its position in Accenture by 2,087.4% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 40.5% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,633 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,777,000 after buying an additional 28,446 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH grew its position in Accenture by 4.3% during the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 129,667 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,756,000 after buying an additional 5,388 shares during the period. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its position in Accenture by 1.5% during the second quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 234,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $69,960,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.