Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. Sells 70,098 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 398,924 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 70,098 shares during the period. Intuit makes up approximately 4.5% of Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $250,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Intuit Price Performance

Shares of Intuit stock opened at $587.38 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $164.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $620.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $629.97. Intuit Inc. has a one year low of $557.29 and a one year high of $714.78.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. Intuit had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 18.25%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Intuit from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock 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 research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $726.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $619.28, for a total transaction of $667,583.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,337.92. This trade represents a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.68% 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.