Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Sells 19 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 877 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 19 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Intuit were worth $538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Copia Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted 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 last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 83.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 16,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $726.13, for a total transaction of $11,662,373.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 197 shares in the company, valued at $143,047.61. This represents a 98.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 62,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $765.99, for a total transaction of $48,116,427.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,000,679 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,460,107.21. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 288,408 shares of company stock worth $213,441,865 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on INTU shares. Scotiabank raised shares of Intuit from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $600.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Intuit from $730.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $742.00 target price (up previously from $642.00) on shares of Intuit in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $850.00 price target on Intuit and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $850.00 price target (up previously from $770.00) on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Intuit has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.33.

Intuit Trading Up 0.2%

INTU stock opened at $766.21 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $213.73 billion, a PE ratio of 74.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $532.65 and a 52 week high of $773.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $660.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $629.50.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $11.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.89 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.56 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.77%.

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.