Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $726.53.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas cut Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Transactions at Intuit

In other news, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total transaction of $48,136,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,093,595,351.10. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 26,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.89, for a total transaction of $16,624,890.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,701,828.41. This trade represents a 41.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuit

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Intuit by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 43 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Price Performance

INTU stock opened at $576.54 on Friday. Intuit has a 1 year low of $557.29 and a 1 year high of $714.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.39 billion, a PE ratio of 55.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $624.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $631.05.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued 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 yield of 0.72%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.39%.

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.