William Blair Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 394,308 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.14% of Intuit worth $180,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in shares of Intuit by 99,673.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 157,291,233 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $72,069,270,000 after buying an additional 157,133,584 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,099,653 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,948,558,000 after acquiring an additional 210,246 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,183,078 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,305,151,000 after acquiring an additional 73,118 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,536,542 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,620,408,000 after acquiring an additional 101,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 42.5% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Performance

Intuit stock traded up $5.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $565.17. 383,317 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,572,858. Intuit Inc. has a 12-month low of $370.62 and a 12-month high of $567.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $158.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $521.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $489.03.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 24th. The software maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.22. Intuit had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. Intuit’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Intuit Inc. will post 11.25 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 9th were issued a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from Intuit’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 5th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Intuit’s payout ratio is presently 42.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Marianna Tessel sold 7,310 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.31, for a total value of $3,883,876.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,322,980.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Mark P. Notarainni sold 358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.29, for a total value of $183,041.82. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $444,311.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Marianna Tessel sold 7,310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.31, for a total transaction of $3,883,876.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,322,980.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,073 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,651 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INTU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Intuit from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on shares of Intuit from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Intuit from $495.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 18th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Intuit from $476.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Intuit from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $567.41.

Intuit 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.