Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Acquired by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 60.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,004 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,356 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $44,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ADBE. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 28.8% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 141.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ADBE shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $590.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $567.81.

Insider Activity at Adobe

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

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of Adobe stock opened at $449.40 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $439.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $487.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.24, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. Adobe Inc. has a 12 month low of $403.75 and a 12 month high of $587.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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

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.