Swiss National Bank Sells 96,300 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,699,200 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 96,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $455,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 46.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank raised 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 acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Accenture by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of ACN opened at $167.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.20. The company has a market capitalization of $111.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. 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 PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $318.62.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture Company Profile

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.