Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 875 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its position in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 26.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,445 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 875 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Intuit were worth $1,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Intuit by 110.3% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 61 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Intuit by 10.6% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,517 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INTU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Intuit in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $726.53.

Intuit Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of INTU opened at $609.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $170.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $557.29 and a 52 week high of $714.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $644.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $636.37.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Intuit news, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total value of $48,136,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares in the company, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 26,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $625.89, for a total transaction of $16,624,890.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 37,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,701,828.41. The trade was a 41.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. 2.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.