Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,499 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 1,372 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $4,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,288,309,000 after buying an additional 277,484 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,732,307,000 after acquiring an additional 202,136 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 12.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,326,092,000 after purchasing an additional 498,957 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,560,086 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,720,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,379 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Adobe by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,438,805 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,263,347,000 after purchasing an additional 889,607 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the completion of 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 90 days, insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Trading Up 2.0 %

Adobe stock traded up $9.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $486.18. The company had a trading volume of 2,833,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,940,603. The firm has a market cap of $217.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $509.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $562.19. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $331.89 and a 1 year high of $638.25. 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 (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to buy 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

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ADBE shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

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.