Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 1,100 shares, bringing its total ownership to 1,764,100 shares, valued at approximately $550 million.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings on Accenture, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $360.21.
• Accenture reported $3.49 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, indicating a year-over-year growth of 7.7%.

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,764,100 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.28% of Accenture worth $550,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $317,000. Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its stake in Accenture by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 5,959 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. F M Investments LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its stake in Accenture by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 13,361 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $239.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,810,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,579,456. The stock has a market cap of $149.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.60. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $238.03 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.