Valmark Advisers Inc. Purchases New Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,670 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Adobe by 2.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Adobe by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,732,307,000 after buying an additional 202,136 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 12.3% during the 3rd 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. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Adobe by 25.1% during 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. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Adobe by 17,006.8% during the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

ADBE traded up $4.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $477.56. The company had a trading volume of 2,460,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,815,745. The stock has a market cap of $213.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $515.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $564.55. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total transaction of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 293 shares of company stock valued at $137,656. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ADBE shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

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.