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

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

INTU has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Intuit from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $730.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $737.44.

Intuit Stock Up 1.0 %

INTU stock opened at $643.39 on Friday. Intuit has a one year low of $557.29 and a one year high of $714.78. The firm has a market cap of $180.10 billion, a PE ratio of 62.47, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $644.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $634.22. 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 (NASDAQ:INTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 14.07 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Intuit’s payout ratio is 40.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,664.22. This represents a 97.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.31, for a total transaction of $466,015.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,676,430.81. This trade represents a 14.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,589 shares of company stock worth $123,328,338 in the last ninety days. 2.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intuit

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Intuit in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuit in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 145.8% during the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. 83.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.