Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock Rating Lowered by William Blair

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) was downgraded by research analysts at William Blair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.41.

Accenture Trading Down 18.8%

ACN traded down $29.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $126.75. The stock had a trading volume of 28,575,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,284,430. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture has a 1-year low of $126.50 and a 1-year high of $307.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in Accenture by 4.2% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Key Accenture News

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture beat Q3 EPS estimates, reporting $3.80 per share versus consensus of $3.70, while revenue still rose 5.6% year over year. ACN Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates on Growth in Managed Services
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted strength in managed services, improving margins, strong cash flow, and new cybersecurity-related deals, which support the long-term growth story. Accenture to Strengthen Critical Infrastructure Defense…
• Neutral Sentiment: Accenture also announced additional acquisitions, including Alfahealth, IndX, Dragos, runZero, and NetRise, which may broaden capabilities but could take time to materially affect results. Italy’s Engineering sells two units to Accenture
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts responded cautiously, with at least one price target cut to reflect slower growth expectations, signaling that sentiment has turned more conservative after the guidance update. MarketScreener BNP Paribas target cut
• Negative Sentiment: The main driver of the stock’s decline is the lowered revenue outlook, which overshadowed the earnings beat and reinforced worries about weak demand in IT consulting and cloud/AI services. Accenture Tumbles On Fiscal Q3 Sales Miss, Weak Guidance

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.