Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Cut to “Underperform” at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $530.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

INTU has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Intuit in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intuit presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $726.53.

Intuit Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ INTU opened at $621.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $173.96 billion, a PE ratio of 60.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.25. Intuit has a 12-month low of $557.29 and a 12-month high of $714.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $649.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $637.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $619.28, for a total transaction of $667,583.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,337.92. This trade represents a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total transaction of $48,136,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. This trade represents a 1.16 % 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 worth $188,992,187. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuit

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of INTU. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Intuit by 110.3% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 61 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake 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. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Hedge funds and other 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.