Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Trims Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,112 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $40,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Adobe by 1.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,632,322 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $7,180,322,000 after purchasing an additional 269,173 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Adobe by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,288,309,000 after purchasing an additional 277,484 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Adobe by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,732,307,000 after purchasing an additional 202,136 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,757,029,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Adobe by 12.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,326,092,000 after purchasing an additional 498,957 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ADBE. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,144,998.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value of $1,318,346.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Adobe stock traded down $1.64 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $474.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,153,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,579,702. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $212.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $331.89 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $536.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $567.62.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.