Sit Investment Associates Inc. Increases Position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its stake in Intuit Inc. by 36.1% during the 1st quarter, owning 33,341 shares valued at over $20 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Brown Advisory, also raised their holdings in Intuit, indicating strong institutional confidence in the stock.
• Intuit reported a quarterly earnings per share of $11.65, surpassing expectations and reflecting a 15.1% year-over-year revenue growth.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU - Free Report) by 36.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,341 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 8,849 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Intuit were worth $20,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Intuit by 523.1% during the 1st quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 81 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Intuit during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on INTU. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $825.00 price objective (up previously from $785.00) on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. HSBC upgraded Intuit from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $699.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on Intuit from $730.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. CLSA assumed coverage on Intuit in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $900.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $880.00 target price on Intuit and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $809.86.

Intuit Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:INTU traded up $6.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $716.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,751,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,630,457. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $763.75 and a 200 day moving average of $671.53. The company has a market cap of $199.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.28. Intuit Inc. has a 1 year low of $532.65 and a 1 year high of $813.70.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $11.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.89 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.56 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 21.46% and a net margin of 19.07%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Intuit Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Intuit's payout ratio is presently 33.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lauren D. Hotz sold 1,738 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.09, for a total transaction of $1,362,748.42. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $356,760.95. The trade was a 79.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 882 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.63, for a total transaction of $689,397.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 279,800 shares of company stock worth $209,725,054. 2.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.