Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,325 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the quarter. Adobe comprises about 1.1% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $54,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,712,616 shares of the software company’s stock worth $765,094,000 after purchasing an additional 33,414 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 127,696 shares of the software company’s stock worth $56,784,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 12.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,322 shares of the software company’s stock worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 201.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 117,383 shares of the software company’s stock worth $60,779,000 after purchasing an additional 78,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 33.0% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,519 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADBE. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Adobe from $635.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas raised Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Adobe from $551.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $515.00 price objective on Adobe and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $563.96.

Adobe Stock Up 1.1 %

Adobe stock opened at $438.60 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $439.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $484.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $190.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $403.75 and a twelve month high of $587.75.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,888,020.16. This represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David A. Ricks purchased 2,250 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This represents a 82.30 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Company Profile

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.