Empower Advisory Group LLC Cuts Position in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Empower Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU - Free Report) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,244 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 458 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Intuit were worth $4,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuit in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 83.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INTU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Intuit from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank started coverage on Intuit in a report on Monday, November 18th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Intuit from $795.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Intuit from $712.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Intuit from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $726.53.

Intuit Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of INTU stock traded down $13.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $565.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,006,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,831. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $614.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $628.50. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $557.29 and a 52 week high of $714.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $158.29 billion, a PE ratio of 54.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Insider Activity at Intuit

In other Intuit news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 23,810 shares of Intuit stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.98, for a total transaction of $15,856,983.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,664.22. The trade was a 97.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott D. Cook sold 75,000 shares of Intuit 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 293,014 shares of company stock valued at $188,992,187 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company's stock.

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.