Meritage Portfolio Management Has $18.30 Million Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,666 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the period. Adobe accounts for approximately 1.2% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Adobe were worth $18,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new position in Adobe during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in Adobe by 57.6% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 52 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ADBE. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $640.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of ADBE traded up $3.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $477.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,469,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,484,637. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $213.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.08, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $331.89 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $564.69.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released 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 quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 293 shares of company stock worth $137,656 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.