Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys Shares of 30,978 Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 30,978 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $19,470,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 112,233.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,063,794 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $668,595,000 after buying an additional 1,062,847 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the fourth quarter worth about $300,854,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 99.6% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 625,583 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $388,487,000 after buying an additional 312,212 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 83.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 590,085 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $371,984,000 after buying an additional 268,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Intuit by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,429,346 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $898,344,000 after buying an additional 245,372 shares in the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on INTU. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Intuit from $700.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $640.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $721.61.

Intuit Stock Performance

INTU stock opened at $602.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $168.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.46, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $597.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $623.51. Intuit Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $553.24 and a fifty-two week high of $714.78. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Intuit’s payout ratio is 38.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuit

In other Intuit news, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 4,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.62, for a total transaction of $2,938,012.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,414,736.20. This represents a 13.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 73,655 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.94, for a total value of $48,976,155.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,301,286 shares in the company, valued at $4,189,977,112.84. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 189,301 shares of company stock valued at $121,470,200. 2.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.