Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

Several other analysts have also recently commented on INTU. Barclays decreased their target price on Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Intuit in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $726.53.

Intuit Price Performance

NASDAQ INTU opened at $597.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.38 billion, a PE ratio of 58.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $636.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $635.10. 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 has a twelve month low of $557.29 and a twelve month high of $714.78.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuit

In other Intuit news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.28, for a total value of $667,583.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,337.92. The trade was a 36.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 4,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,414,736.20. The trade was a 13.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Intuit by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,317,086 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,648,910,000 after purchasing an additional 221,885 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 lifted its stake in shares of Intuit by 2.9% during 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 buying an additional 107,482 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,340,555 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,538,236,000 after acquiring an additional 23,995 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew 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 valued at $1,428,790,000 after buying an additional 87,517 shares in the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Intuit Company Profile

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.