Park National Corp OH Has $45.86 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Park National Corp OH trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 130,355 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,664 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.7% of Park National Corp OH’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Accenture were worth $45,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $612,000. One Wealth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $771,000. Norway Savings Bank raised its holdings in Accenture by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 4,078 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,435,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 18,630 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,554,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $419,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

ACN stock opened at $356.70 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $223.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $357.26 and its 200 day moving average is $343.27.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ACN. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

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.