J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,582 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $2,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 68,404.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 484,328 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $300,768,000 after acquiring an additional 483,621 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Intuit by 99.6% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 625,583 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $388,487,000 after purchasing an additional 312,212 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Intuit by 83.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 590,085 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $371,984,000 after purchasing an additional 268,060 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position 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 valued at $7,648,910,000 after buying an additional 221,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 4th quarter worth about $104,278,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total transaction of $48,136,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,093,595,351.10. This trade represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total transaction of $15,856,983.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,664.22. The trade was a 97.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on INTU. StockNews.com raised shares of Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

Intuit Trading Up 0.6 %

Intuit stock opened at $587.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Intuit Inc. has a 1 year low of $557.29 and a 1 year high of $714.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $620.21 and its 200-day moving average is $629.97. The company has a market cap of $164.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.03, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. Intuit’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Intuit’s payout ratio is 40.39%.

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.