Matrix Trust Co Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Matrix Trust Co raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.5% of Matrix Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Matrix Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,544,672,000 after purchasing an additional 443,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20,876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $308.01. 3,371,848 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $349.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.94. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.