Congress Asset Management Co. Raises Stock Position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 217,954 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the quarter. Intuit makes up approximately 0.9% of Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.08% of Intuit worth $136,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Intuit during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 83.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In other Intuit news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of Intuit 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,337.92. The trade was a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total transaction of $15,856,983.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,664.22. The trade was a 97.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:INTU opened at $587.38 on Friday. Intuit Inc. has a 12 month low of $557.29 and a 12 month high of $714.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $620.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $630.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $164.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.03, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given 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 0.71%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on INTU. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

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.