Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on INTU. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Intuit has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $726.53.

Intuit Trading Down 2.2 %

INTU stock opened at $598.30 on Thursday. 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 has a 1-year low of $557.29 and a 1-year high of $714.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $640.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $635.79. The company has a market capitalization of $167.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.09, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.25.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its 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 company 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%. Intuit’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total value of $15,856,983.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 489 shares in the company, valued at $325,664.22. The trade was a 97.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 4,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.62, for a total transaction of $2,938,012.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,414,736.20. The trade was a 13.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intuit

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of INTU. State Street Corp raised its stake in Intuit by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,317,086 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,648,910,000 after buying an additional 221,885 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,978,713 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,701,762,000 after acquiring an additional 80,463 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised 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 worth $2,376,984,000 after acquiring an additional 107,482 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Intuit by 1.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 4.0% during the third 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 valued at $1,428,790,000 after purchasing an additional 87,517 shares in 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.