Westpac Banking Corp Takes Position in Intuit Inc. $INTU

Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 23,900 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,238,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Intuit in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,851,859,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Intuit during the fourth quarter worth $3,058,407,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Intuit during the second quarter worth $564,592,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Intuit by 102.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,896,561 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,684,795,000 after buying an additional 1,972,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Intuit in the 2nd quarter valued at $426,641,000. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on INTU shares. Argus cut their price objective on Intuit from $580.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Intuit from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $519.00 to $276.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Intuit from $540.00 to $443.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Intuit from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on Intuit from $463.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $451.26.

Key Headlines Impacting Intuit

Here are the key news stories impacting Intuit this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Intuit’s TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks businesses remain central to the bullish case. Analysts say the company is building a year-round consumer financial platform and using cross-selling to increase engagement and average revenue per user. Intuit Consumer Flywheel Gains: Can Cross-Selling Sustain Higher ARPU?
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts see potential for an upside earnings surprise, citing valuation compression, raised guidance and continued momentum in Intuit’s key growth engines. Bank of America maintained a Buy rating and a $400 price target, supporting investor confidence before the report. Intuit: Resilient Growth Drivers and Attractive Valuation Support Buy Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Options-oriented coverage highlights the possibility of generating income by selling calls against existing INTU shares. The strategy may provide an attractive yield but limits upside if the stock rises above the option’s strike price. Get Paid 16% A Year To Hold INTU Stock You Already Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street’s outlook is mixed ahead of earnings. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an Underweight rating, while another valuation update reduced its fair-value estimate from $488.17 to $449.20, reflecting concerns about growth expectations, valuation and potential artificial-intelligence risks. Piper Sandler Reaffirms Underweight Rating for Intuit
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms are publicizing a securities-fraud class action against Intuit and certain officers. The lawsuit alleges that the company made material misstatements or omissions about the strength of its tax-related business and TurboTax growth disclosures. Investors face a September 8 deadline to seek lead-plaintiff status. The legal claims are allegations and could create reputational, financial and investor-confidence risks. Intuit Securities Fraud Class Action Deadline Alert

Intuit Stock Up 1.4%

Intuit stock opened at $367.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45. Intuit Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.84 and a 52-week high of $705.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $299.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $359.96. The firm has a market cap of $100.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.97.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The software maker reported $12.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.57 by $0.23. Intuit had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 25.18%. The firm had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $11.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Intuit Inc. will post 18.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intuit news, Director Richard L. Dalzell sold 338 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.86, for a total transaction of $94,592.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,449,554.36. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vasant M. Prabhu acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $309.71 per share, with a total value of $154,855.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,992.50. This represents a 40.00% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,239 shares of company stock valued at $348,354 in the last three months. 2.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Intuit Company Profile

Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU) is a financial software company headquartered in Mountain View, California, that develops and sells cloud-based financial management and compliance products for individuals, small businesses, self-employed workers and accounting professionals. Founded in 1983 by Scott Cook and Tom Proulx, the company has grown from desktop tax and accounting software into a diversified provider of online financial tools. As of my latest update, Sasan Goodarzi serves as Chief Executive Officer.

Intuit’s product portfolio includes QuickBooks, its flagship accounting and business-management platform that offers bookkeeping, payroll, payments and invoicing capabilities; TurboTax, a tax-preparation and filing service aimed at individual taxpayers; and Mint, a consumer personal-finance and budgeting app.