Ardevora Asset Management LLP Sells 28,430 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Ardevora Asset Management LLP lessened its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 60.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 18,700 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 28,430 shares during the quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Adobe were worth $11,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Adobe

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,848,418. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ADBE. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE stock traded down $8.16 on Friday, hitting $465.02. 3,282,142 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,213,157. The firm has a market cap of $208.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $527.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $566.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

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

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Adobe 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.