Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY Buys 850 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 105.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY's holdings in Accenture were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $251,607,000 after acquiring an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of ACN traded up $4.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $385.16. 1,728,906 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,696,231. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $241.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $359.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $349.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,446 shares of company stock worth $5,852,848. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.22.

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.