Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Intuit from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $730.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Intuit from $700.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Intuit from $760.00 to $714.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Intuit in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Intuit from $760.00 to $726.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $720.50.

Intuit Stock Performance

INTU opened at $601.09 on Monday. Intuit has a fifty-two week low of $553.24 and a fifty-two week high of $714.78. The firm has a market cap of $168.04 billion, a PE ratio of 58.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $605.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $626.69.

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 issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 109 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.50, for a total transaction of $68,506.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,944 shares in the company, valued at $1,221,804. This represents a 5.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 6,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $3,895,059.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,219,900 shares in the company, valued at $3,758,436,774. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 224,460 shares of company stock worth $144,750,747 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intuit

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Intuit by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,035,316 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $16,991,696,000 after purchasing an additional 353,185 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Intuit by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,317,086 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,648,910,000 after acquiring an additional 221,885 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Intuit by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,111,097 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,833,720,000 after buying an additional 132,384 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Intuit by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,296,921 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,329,115,000 after purchasing an additional 620,559 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Intuit by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,827,671 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,376,984,000 after acquiring an additional 107,482 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

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.