Flputnam Investment Management Co. Boosts Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,438 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 4,582 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $22,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in Adobe by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 12,953 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $7,728,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter worth approximately $909,000. Keel Point LLC lifted its position in Adobe by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth approximately $219,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Adobe by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADBE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE traded down $3.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $470.10. 3,337,477 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,626,393. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $331.89 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The stock has a market cap of $210.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $541.84 and a 200-day moving average of $568.10.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. 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 previous year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total value of $49,727.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total value of $49,727.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,063 shares of company stock worth $1,853,025. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.