J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 679 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of INTU. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 42,268.5% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 610,954 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $312,161,000 after buying an additional 609,512 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Intuit by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,350,929 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $690,244,000 after buying an additional 514,259 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 60,534.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 472,952 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $295,609,000 after buying an additional 472,172 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,636,635 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,879,982,000 after buying an additional 266,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in Intuit by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 617,821 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $315,669,000 after buying an additional 222,317 shares during the last quarter. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on INTU shares. Susquehanna raised their price target on Intuit from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Intuit from $615.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Intuit from $600.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Intuit from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.00.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In related news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total transaction of $178,186.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 745 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $655.13, for a total transaction of $488,071.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,180 shares in the company, valued at $2,083,313.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $3,117,156. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Intuit Price Performance

NASDAQ:INTU opened at $630.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $641.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $601.63. The company has a market cap of $176.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.21. Intuit Inc. has a 52-week low of $400.22 and a 52-week high of $671.01.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The software maker reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 18.35%. Intuit’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.73%.

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.