Howland Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Howland Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,896 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Adobe by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,712,616 shares of the software company’s stock worth $765,094,000 after acquiring an additional 33,414 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Adobe by 12.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,322 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $10,005,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Adobe by 201.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 117,383 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $60,779,000 after buying an additional 78,384 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Adobe by 33.0% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,519 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Adobe by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 99,150 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $44,090,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,170,203.55. This trade represents a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,888,020.16. This trade represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,681 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,126 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Adobe from $640.00 to $605.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $573.00.

Adobe Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Adobe stock opened at $433.07 on Friday. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $403.75 and a 12-month high of $628.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $188.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $453.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $499.63.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.