Norges Bank Invests $2.55 Billion in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 5,741,285 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,553,035,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 82,528.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,042,775 shares of the software company’s stock worth $463,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,513 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter worth $243,827,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,168,584 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $519,646,000 after purchasing an additional 347,536 shares in the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at $110,744,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $126,703,000. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Adobe from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $551.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Adobe from $490.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $533.85.

Adobe Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $397.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.08, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $374.50 and a 52-week high of $587.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $433.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $472.23.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.48 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, CFO Daniel Durn purchased 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $390.58 per share, with a total value of $507,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,668,968.08. This trade represents a 4.55 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,203.55. The trade was a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.