Accenture Guides FY21 Below Estimates; Boosts Dividend 10% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - While reporting financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 on Thursday, Accenture Plc (ACN) initiated earnings and revenue growth outlook for the full-year 2021.

For fiscal 2021, the company now expects earnings in a range of $7.80 to $8.10 per share on revenue growth of 2.0 to 5.0 percent in local currency, including a reduction of approximately 1 percentage point from a decline in revenues from reimbursable travel costs.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $8.13 per share on revenue growth of 5.2 percent to $46.74 billion for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Additionally, Accenture also expects revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 to be in the range of $11.15 billion to $11.55 billion, a decrease of 3 percent to flat in local currency. The street is looking for revenues of $11.52 billion for the quarter. As previously disclosed, the company moved from a semi-annual to a quarterly schedule for dividend payments in fiscal 2020.

Accenture's Board of Directors has declared a 10% higher quarterly cash dividend of $0.88 per share, payable on November 13, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 13, 2020.

Additionally, the company's Board of Directors has approved $5.0 billion in additional share repurchase authority, bringing Accenture's total outstanding authority to approximately $6.3 billion.