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 report issued on Friday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on INTU. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $757.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Intuit currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $737.44.

Intuit Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:INTU opened at $634.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $177.77 billion, a PE ratio of 61.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 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 has a 52 week low of $557.29 and a 52 week high of $714.78.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Intuit will post 14.05 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.39%.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In other news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 4,000 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 owns 452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $279,010.56. The trade was a 89.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 2,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.19, for a total transaction of $1,568,124.59. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,453,105 shares in the company, valued at $4,111,853,974.95. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,265 shares of company stock worth $35,200,125 over the last quarter. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of INTU. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 5.4% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 35,902 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $22,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 33.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after buying an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth about $740,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth approximately $56,144,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Intuit by 33.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 10,607 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,895,000 after acquiring an additional 2,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

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.