Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Sold by Johnson Financial Group Inc.

Johnson Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,160 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Founders Financial Alliance LLC raised its holdings in Adobe by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 1,604 shares of the software company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Adobe by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,035 shares of the software company’s stock worth $153,347,000 after acquiring an additional 6,681 shares during the last quarter. Sepio Capital LP grew its position in shares of Adobe by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 2,181 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Skopos Labs Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,915,000. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the software company’s stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE traded down $7.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $475.43. 3,083,719 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,319,054. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $486.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $555.69. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $374.09 and a twelve month high of $638.25. The stock has a market cap of $212.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.45, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ADBE shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $640.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at $10,014,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.