How to buy Accenture shares

Accenture plc is an information technology services business with stocks listed in the US. Accenture shares (ACN) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Here's how to invest if you're based in Australia.

How to buy shares in Accenture

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Accenture. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: ACN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Accenture reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Accenture, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Accenture. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

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Accenture share price

Use our graph to track the performance of ACN stocks over time.

Accenture shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-03-03.

52-week range	US$135.0454 - US$266.53
50-day moving average	US$254.5371
200-day moving average	US$243.174
Target price	US$281.36
PE ratio	31.9092
Dividend yield	US$3.36 (1.3%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$8.124

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Accenture stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Accenture plc by TradingView

Is Accenture under- or over-valued?

Valuing Accenture stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Accenture's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Accenture's P/E ratio

Accenture's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 32x. In other words, Accenture shares trade at around 32x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Accenture's PEG ratio

Accenture's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.4409. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Accenture's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Accenture's EBITDA

Accenture's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$7.4 billion (£5.4 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Accenture's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Accenture financials

Revenue TTM	US$44.7 billion
Operating margin TTM	14.84%
Gross profit TTM	US$14 billion
Return on assets TTM	11.61%
Return on equity TTM	31.34%
Profit margin	11.74%
Book value	28.261
Market capitalisation	US$171.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Accenture shares

There are currently 4.7 million Accenture shares held short by investors – that's known as Accenture's "short interest". This figure is 13.8% up from 4.1 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Accenture shares can be evaluated.

Accenture's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Accenture's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Accenture shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Accenture shares traded daily (recently around 1.8 million). Accenture's SIR currently stands at 2.6. In other words for every 100,000 Accenture shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2600 shares are currently held short.

However Accenture's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Accenture shares, or, against the total number of tradable Accenture shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Accenture's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Accenture shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0071% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Accenture shares, roughly 7 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Accenture.

Find out more about how you can short Accenture stock.

Accenture's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Accenture.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Accenture's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 18.24

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Accenture's overall score of 18.24 (as at 01/01/2019) is excellent – landing it in it in the 10th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Accenture is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Accenture's environmental score

Environmental score: 7.05/100

Accenture's environmental score of 7.05 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Accenture is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Accenture's social score

Social score: 9.98/100

Accenture's social score of 9.98 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Accenture is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Accenture's governance score

Governance score: 14.21/100

Accenture's governance score puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Accenture is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Accenture's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Accenture scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Accenture has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Accenture plc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	18.24
Total ESG percentile	10.48
Environmental score	7.05
Environmental score percentile	9
Social score	9.98
Social score percentile	9
Governance score	14.21
Governance score percentile	9
Level of controversy	2

Accenture share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 43.75% of net profits

Recently Accenture has paid out, on average, around 43.75% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.36% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Accenture shareholders could enjoy a 1.36% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Accenture's case, that would currently equate to about $3.36 per share.

While Accenture's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Accenture may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Accenture's most recent dividend payout was on 12 February 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 13 January 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Accenture's shares ever split?

Accenture's shares were split on a 10:1 basis on 30 December 2011. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 10 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Accenture shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 90% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Accenture shares which in turn could have impacted Accenture's share price.

Accenture share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Accenture's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$135.0454 up to US$266.53. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Accenture's is 1.1227. This would suggest that Accenture's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Accenture overview

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, interactive, and technology and operations services worldwide. The company also provides outsourcing services. It serves communications, media, high tech, software, and platform companies; banking, capital market, and insurance industries; and consumer goods, retail, travel services, industrial, and life science industries, as well as clients in health, public service, chemicals and natural resources, energy, and utilities sectors. Accenture plc has alliance relationships with Adobe, Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, Blue Yonder, Cisco, Dell, Google, HPE, IBM RedHat, Microsoft, Oracle, Pegasystems, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, VMWare, Workday, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, CNH Industrial, and Reactive Technologies. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Accenture is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.08% of Accenture shares are held by insiders and 74.383% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Accenture?

  Accenture's fiscal year ends in August.

• Where is Accenture based?

  Accenture's address is: 1 Grand Canal Square, Dublin, Ireland, 2

• What is Accenture's ISIN number?

  Accenture's international securities identification number is: IE00B4BNMY34

• What is Accenture's CUSIP number?

  Accenture's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: G1150G111