The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 132,687 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 50.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 397,542 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 132,687 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Intuit were worth $246,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of INTU. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 582 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Intuit by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 168 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Intuit by 3.7% in the second quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Intuit by 1.1% during the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank began coverage on Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $737.44.

Intuit Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INTU opened at $634.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $634.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $631.24. The company has a market cap of $177.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.61, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.25. Intuit Inc. has a one year low of $557.29 and a one year high of $714.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

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. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Intuit Inc. will post 14.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Intuit

In other Intuit news, EVP Laura A. Fennell sold 30,159 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.36, for a total transaction of $19,372,935.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,427,129.68. This represents a 36.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 2,461 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.19, for a total value of $1,568,124.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,453,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,111,853,974.95. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,265 shares of company stock worth $35,200,125 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.