Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Up 0.4%

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)’s share price shot up 0.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $477.05 and last traded at $476.48. 491,583 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 3,550,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $474.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ADBE. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Adobe Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $527.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $565.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total transaction of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at $2,495,528.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,848,418 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adobe

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ADBE. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 122.2% in the first quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Adobe during the first quarter worth about $15,947,000. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,109 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 525,897 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $239,609,000 after purchasing an additional 91,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 138.3% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 6,651 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.