Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,415 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $9,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of INTU. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 26,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.89, for a total transaction of $16,624,890.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 37,869 shares in the company, valued at $23,701,828.41. This trade represents a 41.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares in the company, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock worth $188,992,187 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Intuit stock opened at $578.85 on Monday. Intuit Inc. has a twelve month low of $557.29 and a twelve month high of $714.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $626.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $631.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.03 billion, a PE ratio of 56.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INTU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas lowered Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $530.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Intuit in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $765.00 price target on shares of Intuit in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

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.