AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. Lowers Stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 327 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 96 shares during the period. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $619.28, for a total value of $667,583.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,154,337.92. The trade was a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 4,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.62, for a total transaction of $2,938,012.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,414,736.20. This trade represents a 13.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Performance

NASDAQ:INTU opened at $576.54 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $624.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $631.05. The company has a market cap of $161.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $557.29 and a 52 week high of $714.78.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 18.25%. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Intuit’s payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. 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 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

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.