Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

Intuit Trading Down 0.1 %

INTU opened at $597.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $636.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $635.10. Intuit has a 1-year low of $557.29 and a 1-year high of $714.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Analysts expect that Intuit will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.50, for a total transaction of $68,506.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,221,804. This represents a 5.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total value of $48,136,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,093,595,351.10. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in INTU. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,978,713 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,701,762,000 after purchasing an additional 80,463 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Intuit by 2.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 107,482 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Intuit by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,340,555 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,538,236,000 after purchasing an additional 23,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Intuit by 4.0% during the 3rd 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.