Park National Corp OH Reduces Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Park National Corp OH trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 124,279 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,076 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.4% of Park National Corp OH's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Park National Corp OH's holdings in Accenture were worth $38,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Professional Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3%

ACN stock traded down $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $316.71. The company had a trading volume of 4,012,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,259. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $302.63 and a 200 day moving average of $338.74. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture 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.