Swiss National Bank Has $358.07 Million Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,805,800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.27% of Accenture worth $358,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after buying an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 197.2% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after acquiring an additional 149,357 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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

Accenture Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $156.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The company had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.780-13.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Dbs Bank cut Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.19.

Accenture 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.