Farmers National Bank Buys 31 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Farmers National Bank increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,783 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.7% of Farmers National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Farmers National Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $19,007,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $352.04 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $334.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.62 billion, a PE ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.