Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 58,875 Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 58,875 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,125,000. Adobe comprises 0.9% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADBE traded up $9.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $486.18. The stock had a trading volume of 2,833,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,940,603. The stock has a market cap of $217.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $508.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $561.74.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Adobe announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total transaction of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,432. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADBE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.