Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 1,623 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,475 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 1,623 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Intuit were worth $12,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Intuit in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Intuit during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intuit during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Intuit in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intuit news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $617.28, for a total value of $2,469,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 452 shares in the company, valued at $279,010.56. This represents a 89.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kerry J. Mclean sold 11,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.61, for a total transaction of $6,997,607.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,752,985.01. This represents a 30.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $35,220,046 over the last 90 days. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $585.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Intuit from $770.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Intuit from $740.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Intuit from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $750.00 to $685.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $739.24.

Intuit Stock Performance

NASDAQ:INTU opened at $687.87 on Friday. Intuit Inc. has a twelve month low of $552.68 and a twelve month high of $714.78. The company has a market cap of $192.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $633.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $630.06.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 14.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intuit Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Intuit’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.81%.

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.