Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) Short Interest Down 16.1% in March

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,910,000 shares, a decrease of 16.1% from the March 15th total of 4,660,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuit

In related news, Director Eve B. Burton sold 1,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $1,021,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800. The trade was a 99.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 8,163 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.46, for a total value of $4,999,510.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,882 shares in the company, valued at $13,401,849.72. This trade represents a 27.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,696 shares of company stock valued at $14,347,731. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Intuit

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 43 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on INTU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Intuit from $800.00 to $735.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Intuit in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised Intuit from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $600.00 to $700.00 in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.56.

Intuit Price Performance

INTU stock traded down $14.51 during trading on Monday, hitting $570.87. The stock had a trading volume of 150,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,569,833. Intuit has a 1-year low of $532.65 and a 1-year high of $714.78. The stock has a market cap of $159.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $592.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $616.64. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.81%.

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.