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

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $726.53.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Intuit in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $760.00 price target on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas downgraded Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $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 available through this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total value of $48,136,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares in the company, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. This trade represents a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. 2.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Intuit Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of INTU stock opened at $576.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $624.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $631.05. Intuit has a 1-year low of $557.29 and a 1-year high of $714.78. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

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

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio 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.