Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Down 1.3%

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) shares fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $558.38 and last traded at $558.69. 521,393 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 3,522,736 shares. The stock had previously closed at $566.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADBE. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Adobe from $525.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $570.00 to $580.00 in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Adobe from $653.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $607.67.

Adobe Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $249.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $498.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $533.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current year.

Adobe announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total value of $13,602,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 379,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total transaction of $13,602,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 379,660 shares in the company, valued at $206,576,802.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,270 shares of company stock worth $15,165,916 in the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adobe

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter worth about $3,277,785,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Adobe by 1,213.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,024,438 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,207,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870,307 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at about $875,592,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Adobe during the first quarter valued at about $621,179,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Adobe by 17.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,644,050 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,857,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146,718 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Adobe

Adobe Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience, and Publishing and Advertising. The Digital Media segment offers products, services, and solutions that enable individuals, teams, and enterprises to create, publish, and promote content; and Document Cloud, a unified cloud-based document services platform.