Zacks Research Has Bullish Outlook for Accenture Q1 Earnings

Key Points

• Zacks Research has raised its Q1 2026 earnings estimate for Accenture to $3.62 per share, indicating a positive outlook for the company.
• Accenture's recent quarterly earnings showed a record of $3.03 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations and reflecting a 7.3% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $1.63 per share, demonstrating its commitment to returning value to shareholders despite recent challenges.

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Accenture in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the information technology services provider will post earnings of $3.62 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $3.53. 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 $3.38 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $3.81 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $3.35 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $16.04 EPS.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The information technology services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.05. Accenture had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 26.45%. The company had revenue of $17.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.190-13.570 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at EPS.

Several other analysts have also commented on ACN. UBS Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $302.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $300.22.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $233.79 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.67. The firm has a market cap of $146.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture has a 1-year low of $229.40 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Investors Research Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 73.8% in the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 106 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 132.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 146.0% during the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 123 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. Accenture's payout ratio is 53.66%.

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.

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