Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Stock Price

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $785.00 to $900.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the software maker's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price indicates a potential upside of 14.85% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on INTU. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $742.00 price target (up from $642.00) on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Intuit from $750.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $850.00 price target (up from $760.00) on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $850.00 price objective on Intuit and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $789.00 price objective (up from $726.00) on shares of Intuit in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $798.27.

Intuit Price Performance

INTU stock traded up $2.97 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $783.61. 1,294,877 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,618,568. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $718.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $642.43. Intuit has a 1-year low of $532.65 and a 1-year high of $790.60. The company has a market cap of $218.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.60, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $11.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.89 by $0.76. The firm 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 business's revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.88 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Intuit will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Scott D. Cook sold 62,816 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $765.99, for a total value of $48,116,427.84. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,000,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,596,460,107.21. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 1,459 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.80, for a total value of $1,124,597.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 275,661 shares of company stock valued at $206,491,776. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuit

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Veery Capital LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 6.4% in the second quarter. Veery Capital LLC now owns 845 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Intuit by 5.1% in the second quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,040,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Intuit by 4.7% in the second quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 671 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Verde Capital Management lifted its stake in Intuit by 8.0% in the second quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 1,762 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,388,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp acquired a new position in Intuit in the second quarter valued at approximately $261,000. 83.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.