Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 123,469 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 60.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 326,694 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123,469 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for about 0.9% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Adobe were worth $194,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $1,757,029,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at $875,592,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Adobe Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE traded down $8.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $465.02. 3,282,142 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,213,157. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $208.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a one year low of $331.89 and a one year high of $638.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $527.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $566.34.

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADBE. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America cut their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $640.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group cut their price target on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 23,508 shares in the company, valued at $14,144,998.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,075 shares of company stock worth $1,848,418. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.