National Pension Service Acquires 14,656 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 748,264 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,656 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for 0.6% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of Adobe worth $446,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 8.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,180 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Adobe by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 88,800 shares of the software company’s stock worth $45,024,000 after purchasing an additional 7,848 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 384 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Adobe by 15.2% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 586,363 shares of the software company’s stock worth $298,986,000 after buying an additional 77,277 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ADBE. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. BNP Paribas cut Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the company’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 directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Adobe Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Adobe stock traded down $4.78 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $483.32. The company had a trading volume of 737,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,386,568. The company has a 50 day moving average of $505.80 and a 200 day moving average of $561.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $331.89 and a 52-week 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 results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.