Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 497 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,419 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Intuit were worth $37,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTU. Brown Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 1,639 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Intuit by 1.5% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,078 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc grew its position in Intuit by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Chris Bulman Inc now owns 1,520 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC grew its position in Intuit by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 4,186 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,599,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC raised its stake in Intuit by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 521 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total value of $15,856,983.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,664.22. The trade was a 97.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 4,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.62, for a total value of $2,938,012.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,414,736.20. The trade was a 13.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 in the last 90 days. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Intuit Stock Performance

NASDAQ INTU opened at $583.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Intuit Inc. has a twelve month low of $557.29 and a twelve month high of $714.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $622.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $630.67. The firm has a market cap of $163.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INTU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intuit has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $726.53.

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.