Empirical Finance LLC Lowers Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,587 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $6,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Adobe by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,712,616 shares of the software company’s stock worth $765,094,000 after purchasing an additional 33,414 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Adobe by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,322 shares of the software company’s stock worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Adobe by 201.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 117,383 shares of the software company’s stock worth $60,779,000 after purchasing an additional 78,384 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in Adobe by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,519 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Adobe by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 99,150 shares of the software company’s stock worth $44,090,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In related news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This trade represents a 82.30 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 32,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,110,950. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,681 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,126. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADBE opened at $433.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $188.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $453.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $499.63. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $403.75 and a twelve month high of $628.07.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $525.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $605.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $475.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Adobe has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $573.00.

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.