Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 35,309 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Bank Julius Baer cut its Accenture stake by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 35,309 shares and leaving it with 489,590 shares valued at about $131.4 million.
• Accenture reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $2.93 versus $2.84 expected and revenue of $18.04 billion, up 7.8% year over year.
• The company reaffirmed shareholder returns by declaring a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, or $6.52 annually, for a 4.1% yield.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lowered its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 489,590 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 35,309 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.08% of Accenture worth $131,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Accenture by 23.0% in the second 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 lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $159.68 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $192.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.35. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $324.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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