Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Buys Shares of 2,197 Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,197 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,444,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Intuit by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,057,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,937,502,000 after acquiring an additional 283,291 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Intuit by 173.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,687,583 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,304,850,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,654 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,114,975 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,946,954,000 after acquiring an additional 270,432 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Intuit by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,616,811 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,062,578,000 after purchasing an additional 238,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Intuit by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,407,862 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $925,262,000 after purchasing an additional 56,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of INTU opened at $634.74 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $177.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. Intuit Inc. has a one year low of $473.56 and a one year high of $676.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $635.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $630.96.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.14. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Intuit’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 14.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. This is a boost from Intuit’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.38%.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In related news, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 30,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.36, for a total value of $19,372,935.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,427,129.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Intuit news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.03, for a total transaction of $535,327.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,384,755.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 30,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.36, for a total value of $19,372,935.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,427,129.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,548 shares of company stock worth $33,604,124 in the last three months. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on INTU shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Intuit from $690.00 to $795.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Intuit from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $685.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Intuit from $727.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Intuit in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $760.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Intuit has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $720.37.

Intuit Company Profile

Intuit Inc provides financial management and compliance products and services for consumers, small businesses, self-employed, and accounting professionals in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, Credit Karma, and ProTax.