Smith Salley & Associates Raises Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Smith Salley & Associates boosted its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,341 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 224 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley & Associates’ holdings in Adobe were worth $3,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ADBE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,757,029,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 115,991.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,248,225 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,093,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,427 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in Adobe by 17,006.8% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 2,161,614 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,102,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,978 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Adobe by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,804,275 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,299,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471,861 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $875,592,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADBE. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. KeyCorp began coverage on Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Adobe Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of ADBE opened at $485.12 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $556.17 and its 200 day moving average is $568.75. The company has a market capitalization of $217.33 billion, a PE ratio of 46.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. Research analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value of $1,318,346.61. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,144,998.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,144,998.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,063 shares of company stock valued at $1,853,025 in the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by 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.