Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Given New $730.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $685.00 to $730.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on INTU. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $757.00 target price on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Intuit from $690.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $740.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Intuit from $730.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intuit currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $737.44.

Intuit Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ INTU opened at $634.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $634.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $631.24. Intuit has a fifty-two week low of $557.29 and a fifty-two week high of $714.78. The stock has a market cap of $177.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 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 (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Intuit will post 14.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Intuit’s payout ratio is currently 40.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Scott D. Cook sold 2,461 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $637.19, for a total transaction of $1,568,124.59. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,453,105 shares in the company, valued at $4,111,853,974.95. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.31, for a total value of $466,015.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,676,430.81. This trade represents a 14.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,265 shares of company stock valued at $35,200,125 over the last three months. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuit

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of INTU. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Intuit during the second quarter worth $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Intuit in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

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.