StockNews.com Downgrades Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Buy

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ADBE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Adobe from $640.00 to $605.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.88.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $451.24 on Tuesday. Adobe has a 12 month low of $403.75 and a 12 month high of $587.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $439.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $488.77. The company has a market capitalization of $196.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.52 EPS. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Adobe will post 16.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,203.55. The trade was a 11.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total value of $403,172.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,687,063.84. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,681 shares of company stock worth $2,525,126 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,553,035,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Adobe by 82,528.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,042,775 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $463,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,513 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Adobe by 82.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,107,788 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $937,291,000 after purchasing an additional 952,233 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Adobe by 1,414.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 889,000 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $395,321,000 after purchasing an additional 830,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,750,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.