Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Shares Up 0.1%

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)’s stock price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $615.10 and last traded at $612.93. 202,849 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,237,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $612.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on INTU shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Intuit from $678.00 to $712.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Intuit from $615.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $670.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Intuit from $735.00 to $745.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Intuit has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.00.

Intuit Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $645.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $597.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.54, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.21.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The software maker reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.33. Intuit had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Intuit’s payout ratio is currently 36.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intuit news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $655.13, for a total value of $488,071.85. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,083,313.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total transaction of $178,186.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $3,117,156. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Intuit

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of INTU. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,101,848,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Intuit by 173.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,687,583 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,304,850,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,654 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Intuit by 118,345.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,088,194 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $812,767,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086,431 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Intuit by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,444,913 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,340,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027,752 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth approximately $467,852,000. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.