Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Stake Trimmed by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. cut its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,169 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for 3.5% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $11,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Alera Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the software company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 31.0% during the first quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 38,000 shares of the software company’s stock worth $19,175,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Adobe by 113.0% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,502 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,281,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Adobe by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC increased its stake in Adobe by 98.6% in the 1st quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 1,245 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.97, for a total value of $327,839.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,316,693.55. This represents a 19.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.42, for a total transaction of $232,525.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,763,437.76. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,187 shares of company stock worth $17,736,369. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of Adobe stock opened at $503.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $221.58 billion, a PE ratio of 42.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $509.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $517.96. Adobe Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $433.97 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.53 by $0.12. Adobe had a net margin of 25.59% and a return on equity of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.82 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Adobe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Argus raised Adobe to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Adobe from $560.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.40.

Adobe 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.