Eagle Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 20.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,649 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $3,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Intuit by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 35,902 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $22,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Intuit by 33.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Retireful LLC bought a new position in Intuit during the third quarter valued at $740,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Intuit during the third quarter valued at $56,144,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 10,607 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,895,000 after buying an additional 2,655 shares during the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intuit news, Director Eve B. Burton sold 2,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.87, for a total value of $1,941,811.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.03, for a total transaction of $535,327.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 3,840 shares in the company, valued at $2,384,755.20. This represents a 18.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,265 shares of company stock valued at $35,200,125 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Trading Down 0.9 %

INTU opened at $634.62 on Tuesday. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $557.29 and a 52 week high of $714.78. The company has a market capitalization of $177.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.61, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $634.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $631.24. 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 (NASDAQ:INTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 14.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Intuit’s payout ratio is 40.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on INTU shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Intuit in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $757.00 target price on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $737.44.

Intuit 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.