Primecap Management Co. CA Lowers Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Primecap Management Co. CA lowered its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,942,278 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 105,290 shares during the quarter. Adobe comprises about 2.8% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 1.31% of Adobe worth $3,545,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ADBE shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE traded down $7.88 on Friday, hitting $475.43. The company had a trading volume of 3,083,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,319,054. The stock has a market cap of $212.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $486.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $555.69. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $374.09 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly 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. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,829,839. The sale 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 97 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.