Main Street Research LLC Makes New Investment in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Main Street Research LLC bought a new position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 36,467 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $22,793,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Intuit during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Intuit during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steward Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Intuit by 50.0% during the third quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Aspire Private Capital LLC grew its holdings in Intuit by 144.4% during the third quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 66 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on INTU shares. KeyCorp increased their price target on Intuit from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Intuit from $678.00 to $712.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Intuit from $560.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Intuit from $615.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.00.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In related news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Intuit news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total transaction of $178,186.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $655.13, for a total value of $488,071.85. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,083,313.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $3,117,156 over the last ninety days. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Intuit Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ INTU traded up $2.89 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $615.01. 488,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,241,015. The firm has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 62.54, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $645.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $597.57. Intuit Inc. has a 12 month low of $400.22 and a 12 month high of $671.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17.

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

Intuit Announces Dividend

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

Intuit Company 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.