Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 1,498 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,302 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,498 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $15,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of INTU. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 22.0% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,016 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth about $1,539,000. First National Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 6.8% in the third quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 1,067 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $663,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 0.7% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 52,913 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,859,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 2.3% in the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 842 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $523,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on INTU. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Intuit from $700.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $660.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $721.61.

Intuit Stock Performance

INTU opened at $591.14 on Thursday. Intuit Inc. has a 12-month low of $553.24 and a 12-month high of $714.78. The stock has a market cap of $165.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.39, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $599.68 and a 200-day moving average of $624.06. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Intuit’s payout ratio is 38.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $630.10, for a total value of $47,257,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,542,457.60. This trade represents a 67.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 73,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.94, for a total value of $48,976,155.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,301,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,189,977,112.84. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,301 shares of company stock valued at $121,470,200 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Intuit 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.