Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Decreases Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,989 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $5,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its position in Adobe by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised 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 purchasing an additional 11,522 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, 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 acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.42, for a total transaction of $232,525.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,763,437.76. This trade represents a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.97, for a total transaction of $327,839.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,316,693.55. This represents a 19.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,293 shares of company stock worth $1,679,809 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $525.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $575.85.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of ADBE traded down $13.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $406.03. 2,379,633 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,664,200. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $485.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $517.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.31. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $405.90 and a 1-year high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced 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 45.22% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.52 earnings per share. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.