Accenture plc (ACN) Stock Price & How to Invest

Last updated July 2026

Short answer

You can invest in Accenture (ACN) by buying shares or fractional shares at any major broker, through an ETF that holds it, or as one holding in a thematic basket. Accenture is the world's largest IT consulting and professional services firm, generating roughly $72 billion in trailing revenue, and it has emerged as a primary implementation partner for enterprise AI adoption, with advanced AI bookings of $2.2 billion in Q1 FY2026 alone, nearly doubling year over year. The company has a 14-year dividend growth streak and is guiding for continued margin expansion, making it a blend of growth and income characteristics. The single biggest risk is AI cannibalization: the market fears that as AI automates coding, testing, documentation, and routine process management, clients may need fewer Accenture billable hours, compressing both revenue per engagement and pricing power over time.

ACN stock price

As of 2026-07-23, Accenture plc (ACN) last closed at $138.53, down 51.6% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $124.44 and $288.54.

ACN last close
$138.53
1 day
-1.11%
1 month
+9.07%
1 year
-51.57%
52-week range
$124.44 to $288.54
Last close
2026-07-23

Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or Accenture plc's investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.

What does Accenture plc (ACN) do?

Accenture is a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments, and other organizations across more than 120 countries build digital infrastructure, optimize operations, and accelerate growth. The company operates across five major service areas: Strategy and Consulting, Technology Services, Operations, Industry X (engineering and manufacturing digitization), and Song (marketing and customer experience). It earns revenue through a mix of consulting engagements, managed services contracts, and increasingly fixed-price, outcome-based arrangements, with managed services growing faster at roughly 10% year over year as of Q2 FY2026. The company serves clients in virtually every major industry vertical, from financial services and health to communications and government, and generates the majority of its revenue outside North America.

Accenture traces its roots to Arthur Andersen's consulting division, which was spun off and rebranded as Andersen Consulting in 1989, then renamed Accenture when it became independent and went public in 2001. Over the following two decades it grew steadily through hundreds of acquisitions, adding capabilities in cloud, cybersecurity, data, and AI. Julie Sweet became Chair and CEO in September 2019 and September 2021 respectively, the first woman to lead the firm. Under her tenure the company's revenue grew more than 50%, and she has led a sweeping restructuring that reversed five decades of organizational structure to align more directly with AI-driven client needs, tying employee promotions to demonstrated AI proficiency across a workforce of roughly 786,000 people.

What's driving Accenture plc (ACN)?

Enterprise AI implementation at scale

Accenture reported $2.2 billion in advanced AI bookings in Q1 FY2026 alone, nearly doubling year over year, and serves over 1,300 AI clients representing 14% of its total client base. As enterprises move from AI experimentation to full-scale deployment, Accenture's platform-agnostic capability across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle positions it as a preferred integrator. The company has nearly 80,000 AI and data professionals and is training its entire workforce in agentic AI, building a structural talent advantage.

Shift to recurring, outcome-based revenue

Approximately 60% of Accenture's work is now fixed-price and growing, reflecting a deliberate shift from time-and-materials billing toward outcome-based and managed-services contracts that generate more predictable, recurring revenue. Managed services revenue grew approximately 10% year over year in Q2 FY2026, outpacing overall company growth. This model shift supports more durable margins and makes revenue less tied to headcount, partially offsetting the AI cannibalization concern.

Compounding shareholder returns through dividends and buybacks

Accenture has increased its dividend by an average of roughly 12% per year over the past ten years with no material reductions, and raised the quarterly dividend 10% to $1.63 per share entering FY2026. The company plans to return at least $9.5 billion to shareholders in FY2026, a 14% increase over FY2025, through a combination of dividends and buybacks. Free cash flow for FY2026 is projected at $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion, giving the distribution program a solid foundation.

Acquisition-driven capability expansion

Accenture invested $374 million in six acquisitions in Q1 FY2026 alone and plans to spend approximately $3 billion on acquisitions in FY2026, steadily adding specialized capabilities in areas such as industrial software, data engineering, and sector-specific AI. This acquisition pace has historically allowed Accenture to rapidly enter high-growth niches before organic development would be practical. The strategy also deepens relationships with hyperscaler ecosystem partners, which drives additional consulting and implementation work.

What are the risks to Accenture plc (ACN)?

The most structural bear-case concern is AI cannibalization: if generative AI and agentic AI tools automate the coding, testing, documentation, and process management that make up a significant portion of Accenture's billable work, clients may require fewer hours per engagement, compressing revenue without a commensurate reduction in costs. Accenture is also exposed to a slowdown or outright contraction in U.S. federal government spending, as DOGE-driven budget cuts have already created headwinds in its government and public services segment. Additionally, the broader macroeconomic environment and client caution around large discretionary IT spending create near-term bookings softness, which has prompted multiple analyst price target reductions and raises questions about revenue visibility heading into FY2027. Finally, foreign currency fluctuations across more than 120 countries add meaningful volatility to reported results, since the majority of revenue is earned outside the United States.

How is Accenture plc (ACN) valued? (approximate, 2026-06-27)

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Accenture plc's investor relations page or your broker.

  • Revenue (TTM): ~$72 billion
  • Revenue (FY2025, ended Aug 31 2025): ~$69.7 billion (+7% YoY)
  • Q3 FY2026 Revenue: ~$18.7 billion (+5.6% YoY)
  • Q3 FY2026 EPS (diluted): ~$3.82 (vs $3.52 in Q3 FY2025)
  • Operating Margin (Q3 FY2026): ~17.0% (expanded 20 bps YoY)
  • P/E Ratio (TTM, mid-June 2026): ~10-13x (vs 5-year average ~25x)
  • Forward P/E: ~12-13x
  • Dividend Yield (TTM, mid-June 2026): ~3.6-5.1% (range across sources; stock near multi-year lows)
  • FY2026 Adjusted EPS Guidance: $13.78-$13.90 (7-8% increase)

Accenture's trailing P/E of roughly 10 to 13x represents a sharp discount to its own 5-year average of approximately 25x, a compression driven by AI cannibalization fears, federal spending headwinds, and a broader de-rating of large-cap professional services stocks rather than by any deterioration in underlying earnings, which have continued to grow. Operating margins near 17% and projected free cash flow of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion in FY2026 reflect a business that is fundamentally sound and continuing to expand profitability. The elevated dividend yield above 3.5% (elevated because the share price has fallen roughly 38 to 40% over the prior 12 months) is now higher than Accenture's long-run average and is well covered by both earnings (roughly 52% payout ratio) and cash flows.

Which ETFs hold Accenture plc (ACN)?

If you want ACN exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

ETFName% in ACNExpense ratio
VGTVanguard Information Technology ETF~1.4%0.09%
XLKTechnology Select Sector SPDR Fund~1.5%0.09%

Who competes with Accenture plc (ACN)?

Global IT Services and Outsourcing Rivals

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant operate at comparable or overlapping scale in IT outsourcing and managed services, competing aggressively on price particularly in large multi-year contracts. TCS crossed $30 billion in revenue in 2025 and uses its cost structure in India as a lever to undercut Accenture on labor-intensive work, pressuring margins on lower-complexity engagements.

Strategy and Management Consulting Firms

McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain compete directly with Accenture's Strategy and Consulting segment for high-end corporate transformation mandates, often at the C-suite level. The Big Four accounting firms, particularly Deloitte and PwC, are fierce rivals in the strategy and public sector consulting space and leverage existing audit and tax relationships to win digital transformation contracts, giving them a cross-sell advantage Accenture does not have.

Technology Platform and Cloud Hyperscalers

IBM has re-emerged as a formidable rival in 2026 with its watsonx platform, targeting specifically the agentic AI governance layer that enterprises need alongside implementation services. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are simultaneously Accenture's ecosystem partners and potential competitors, as they each build out their own professional services and implementation arms that could disintermediate consulting partners on cloud-native and AI-native workloads over time.

Specialist and Boutique Consultancies

A growing number of boutique AI-native consultancies and niche digital transformation firms compete for specific project types, particularly in data engineering, generative AI prototyping, and product design, often at lower rates and with faster delivery timelines. These firms rarely have the global scale, regulatory expertise, or enterprise relationships to win the largest multi-year transformations, but they create pricing pressure at the margins and can attract talent away from Accenture.

How to invest in Accenture plc (ACN)

There are three common ways to get ACN exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (VGT, XLK), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so ACN sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where ACN fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

The bottom line on Accenture plc (ACN)

Accenture is right now a global professional services giant straddling two identities simultaneously: a steady, dividend-paying cash compounder with roughly $72 billion in trailing revenue and an operating margin near 17%, and the largest independent deployer of enterprise AI solutions in the world, booking over $2 billion in advanced AI work in a single quarter. If you believe that large enterprises will continue to need a trusted, platform-agnostic partner to design, implement, and manage AI-driven transformation rather than doing it entirely in-house, the question becomes sizing and overlap with other tech holdings, not timing. The risk is that AI gradually shrinks the labor content of every consulting engagement, making Accenture's 786,000-person workforce a liability rather than an asset and pressuring the revenue-per-project economics that underpin its valuation.

More on Accenture plc (ACN)

Whether ACN is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is ACN a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the ACN stock forecast.

For income investors, whether ACN pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does ACN pay a dividend?

Build a basket around ACN with Walnut

Use Accenture plc as one constituent in a thematic basket Walnut's AI helps you assemble. Describe a thesis you believe in, the AI proposes the holdings and weights, and you approve before any broker order.

FAQ

What does Accenture do?

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Accenture is a global professional services company that helps large corporations, governments, and other organizations with strategy, technology implementation, managed operations, and digital transformation. Its work spans AI deployment, cloud migration, cybersecurity, supply chain optimization, and customer experience. It earns fees through consulting engagements and long-term managed services contracts, serving clients across virtually every major industry in more than 120 countries.

Is ACN a good stock to buy right now?

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That depends heavily on your investment horizon and risk tolerance. Accenture's fundamentals remain intact, with revenue growing around 6-8% and operating margins near 17%, but the stock has fallen roughly 38-40% over the past year due to AI cannibalization fears, federal spending headwinds, and macro uncertainty. Its P/E has compressed to roughly 10-13x versus a 5-year average near 25x. Whether that gap closes depends on whether AI proves to be an accelerant or a disruptor to its business model.

Does ACN pay a dividend?

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Yes. Accenture pays a quarterly dividend, with an annualized payout of $6.52 per share as of mid-2026. The dividend has grown at an average of roughly 12% per year over the past decade with no material cuts, reflecting a 14-year growth streak. Because the share price has declined significantly, the trailing dividend yield has risen to approximately 3.6% to 5%, depending on the source and timing, well above Accenture's historical average yield.

Who are Accenture's main competitors?

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Accenture faces competition from multiple directions. In IT outsourcing and managed services, it competes with Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Cognizant, primarily on price and scale. In high-end strategy consulting, Deloitte, PwC, McKinsey, and BCG are the key rivals. IBM competes in AI-driven technology services. And the hyperscalers, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, are simultaneously partners and potential long-term competitors as they expand their own services arms.

Is ACN overvalued or undervalued?

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By its own historical standards, ACN currently trades at a significant discount. Its trailing P/E of roughly 10-13x is well below its 5-year average of approximately 25x and its 10-year average near 25x, despite earnings continuing to grow. Some valuation frameworks flag it as significantly undervalued relative to intrinsic value models. However, that discount reflects a genuine debate about whether AI will structurally reduce the revenue content of consulting work, which is a real and unresolved uncertainty.

What is Accenture's exposure to artificial intelligence?

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Accenture has positioned itself as the largest independent enterprise AI implementation partner in the world. It reported $2.2 billion in advanced AI bookings in just Q1 FY2026, nearly doubling year over year, and serves over 1,300 AI clients. The company has nearly 80,000 AI and data professionals and is training all approximately 786,000 employees in agentic AI. Simultaneously, the market worries that AI could automate portions of Accenture's own billable work, creating a dual-edged dynamic.

How has ACN stock performed recently?

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ACN has underperformed significantly over the past year, with the stock declining roughly 38-40% from its 52-week high as of mid-2026, bringing shares to levels near multi-year lows. The decline has been driven by concerns about DOGE-related federal contract headwinds, AI cannibalization fears, and broader macro caution around large discretionary IT spending. Earnings themselves have continued to grow, creating a widening gap between fundamental performance and stock price that investors are currently debating.

What are the biggest risks to investing in Accenture?

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The primary structural risk is AI cannibalization: if AI tools automate the coding, testing, and process management work that generates a large share of Accenture's billable hours, revenue per engagement could shrink. Additional risks include U.S. federal spending cuts reducing a meaningful revenue segment, macroeconomic slowdowns causing clients to defer large discretionary IT projects, foreign currency volatility given operations in 120-plus countries, and intense pricing competition from lower-cost offshore IT services rivals.

Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with Accenture plc's investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.