Appleton Partners Inc. MA Lowers Holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its stake in shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,027 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 2,282 shares during the period. Intuit comprises about 1.3% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Intuit were worth $16,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of INTU. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Intuit by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,331,318 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,942,784,000 after acquiring an additional 117,478 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Intuit by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,848,401 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,966,304,000 after purchasing an additional 137,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Intuit by 173.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,687,583 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,304,850,000 after buying an additional 2,336,654 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Intuit by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,548,119 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,217,681,000 after buying an additional 80,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Intuit in the 4th quarter worth $2,101,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on INTU shares. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Intuit from $775.00 to $757.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on Intuit from $670.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Intuit from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $770.00 target price on shares of Intuit in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Intuit from $678.00 to $712.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $679.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intuit news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.38, for a total value of $178,186.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 1,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.58, for a total value of $855,480.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,409,880.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 194,217 shares of company stock worth $113,301,418. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INTU traded up $1.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $603.54. The company had a trading volume of 270,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,313,071. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $616.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $625.12. Intuit Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.74 and a fifty-two week high of $676.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.21.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The software maker reported $9.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.12 by $1.76. The company had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.65 billion. Intuit had a net margin of 19.43% and a return on equity of 18.61%. Intuit’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.80 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Intuit Inc. will post 11.72 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.21%.

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.