Park National Corp OH Sells 11,584 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Park National Corp OH trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,019 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 11,584 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.7% of Park National Corp OH’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Accenture were worth $49,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after buying an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after acquiring an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after buying an additional 80,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $356.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.30 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $335.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.