StockNews.com Lowers Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Intuit from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $678.00 to $712.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Intuit from $560.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $650.23.

Intuit Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ INTU opened at $635.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $177.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $641.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $601.86. Intuit has a 52-week low of $400.22 and a 52-week high of $671.01.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The software maker reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.33. Intuit had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuit

In other Intuit news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total transaction of $178,186.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kerry J. Mclean sold 3,692 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $663.84, for a total transaction of $2,450,897.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,233,800.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock worth $3,117,156 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in Intuit in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Intuit in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Intuit in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 79.2% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 43 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 119.0% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 46 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.