Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) Short Interest Down 14.7% in January

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,470,000 shares, a drop of 14.7% from the January 15th total of 4,070,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,720,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Intuit Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INTU traded up $3.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $587.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,348,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,801,658. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $620.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $629.84. Intuit has a fifty-two week low of $557.29 and a fifty-two week high of $714.78.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Intuit will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 109 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.50, for a total transaction of $68,506.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,944 shares in the company, valued at $1,221,804. This trade represents a 5.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.82, for a total value of $48,136,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,378,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,093,595,351.10. This trade represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Intuit

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the third quarter worth $27,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Intuit by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 43 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Intuit during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Intuit during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INTU has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Intuit from $800.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Intuit presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $726.53.

Intuit Company 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.