Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Stock Price Up 0.2% – Here’s Why

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) rose 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $439.96 and last traded at $438.63. Approximately 599,767 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 3,728,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $437.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ADBE shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.00.

Adobe Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $453.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $499.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $188.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.31.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released 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. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,888,020.16. The trade was a 17.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,929 shares in the company, valued at $18,110,950. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,681 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,126 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Adobe by 226.7% in the third quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 141.7% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.