Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on INTU. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $737.44.

Intuit Stock Performance

Shares of INTU opened at $643.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Intuit has a 52-week low of $557.29 and a 52-week high of $714.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $644.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $634.65. The company has a market capitalization of $180.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.24.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 18.25%. Intuit’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Intuit will post 14.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.39%.

Insider Transactions at Intuit

In other news, EVP Mark P. Notarainni sold 3,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.68, for a total value of $2,359,735.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,286.92. This trade represents a 99.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.28, for a total value of $2,469,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 452 shares in the company, valued at $279,010.56. This trade represents a 89.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 188,589 shares of company stock worth $123,328,338 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuit

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Intuit by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,317,086 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,648,910,000 after acquiring an additional 221,885 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,978,713 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,701,762,000 after buying an additional 80,463 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Intuit by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,827,671 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,376,984,000 after buying an additional 107,482 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,340,555 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,538,236,000 after purchasing an additional 23,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Intuit by 4.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,300,789 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,428,790,000 after buying an additional 87,517 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

About Intuit

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.