Merit Financial Group LLC Has $551,000 Stock Holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 73.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 881 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 2,411 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Intuit were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of INTU. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth $408,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Intuit by 13.1% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,037 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth $3,417,000. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Intuit by 7.6% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 782 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Intuit by 9.1% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,695 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on INTU shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Intuit from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com cut Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Intuit from $600.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Intuit from $560.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Intuit from $615.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kerry J. Mclean sold 3,692 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $663.84, for a total transaction of $2,450,897.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,948 shares in the company, valued at $15,233,800.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Intuit news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $655.13, for a total value of $488,071.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,083,313.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kerry J. Mclean sold 3,692 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $663.84, for a total transaction of $2,450,897.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,948 shares in the company, 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 quarter. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Intuit Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of INTU stock opened at $641.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $179.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.42, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $636.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $608.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Intuit Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $400.22 and a fifty-two week high of $671.01.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is 36.73%.

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.