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

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $726.53.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Intuit in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,864 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,337.92. This trade represents a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,093,595,351.10. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intuit

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTU. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 72.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuit in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 83.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Intuit Price Performance

Shares of INTU stock opened at $587.38 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $621.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $630.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Intuit 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. Intuit had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 18.25%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Intuit will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.71%. Intuit’s payout ratio is 40.39%.

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.