Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,943 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $50,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Intuit by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 43 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the 4th quarter valued at 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 purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Up 0.5 %

INTU opened at $609.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $170.42 billion, a PE ratio of 59.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.27. Intuit Inc. has a twelve month low of $553.24 and a twelve month high of $714.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $602.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $625.12. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Intuit’s payout ratio is currently 38.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.50, for a total transaction of $68,506.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,804. This represents a 5.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total transaction of $15,856,983.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,664.22. This represents a 97.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 220,811 shares of company stock worth $142,391,012 over the last quarter. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Intuit from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $730.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Intuit from $790.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Intuit in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $721.61.

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.