First Merchants Corp Buys 569 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

First Merchants Corp raised its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,873 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Adobe were worth $10,066,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Adobe during the 4th quarter worth about $1,757,029,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 115,991.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,248,225 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,093,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,427 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in Adobe by 17,006.8% during the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 2,161,614 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,102,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,978 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Adobe by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,804,275 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,299,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471,861 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the 4th quarter worth about $875,592,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total transaction of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,144,998.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,063 shares of company stock worth $1,853,025 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ADBE shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TheStreet downgraded Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a 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 $620.72.

Adobe Stock Performance

ADBE stock traded down $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $485.12. 4,968,712 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,673,611. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $556.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $568.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.33 billion, a PE ratio of 46.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Adobe announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.