Zacks Research Comments on Accenture plc’s Q3 2024 Earnings (NYSE:ACN)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) – Research analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for Accenture in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 10th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the information technology services provider will post earnings per share of $3.07 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $3.28. The consensus estimate for Accenture’s current full-year earnings is $12.09 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Accenture’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.87 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $12.09 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.22 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.81 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.13 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.41 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $12.56 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $3.49 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.24 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $13.33 EPS.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on ACN. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on ACN

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $315.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $360.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.81. Accenture has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC increased its position in Accenture by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 34,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in Accenture by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Accenture by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Accenture Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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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