Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires New Shares in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,730 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,961,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth $69,364,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Intuit during the 4th quarter worth $581,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Intuit by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,534 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $31,761,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 889 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,565 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $16,696,000 after acquiring an additional 8,438 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Intuit

In other Intuit news, CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $630.10, for a total value of $47,257,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,776 shares in the company, valued at $22,542,457.60. The trade was a 67.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.28, for a total value of $667,583.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,154,337.92. This trade represents a 36.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 117,348 shares of company stock valued at $73,515,245. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Intuit stock opened at $604.04 on Friday. Intuit Inc. has a 1 year low of $553.24 and a 1 year high of $714.78. The company has a market cap of $168.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $596.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $622.80.

Intuit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on INTU. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Intuit from $700.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Intuit from $760.00 to $714.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Intuit from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $730.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered Intuit from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Intuit from $760.00 to $726.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Intuit presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $721.61.

Intuit 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.