Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Huntington National Bank

Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 333,221 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,959 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 0.9% of Huntington National Bank's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Huntington National Bank owned about 0.05% of Accenture worth $117,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Peak Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 60.0% during the third quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 6,573 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,323,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $6,467,000. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 65.1% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 700.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 160 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $6.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $363.96. 1,778,455 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,718,821. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $354.85 and a 200-day moving average of $326.48. The stock has a market cap of $227.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

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.