Howland Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Howland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,922 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Adobe by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 435 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,023 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Carlson Capital Management boosted its position in Adobe by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 1,155 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Adobe by 191.0% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 132,189 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $67,403,000 after purchasing an additional 86,769 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $548,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on ADBE shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Adobe from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Melius downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $580.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $607.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other Adobe news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total value of $13,602,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 379,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total value of $13,602,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 379,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,270 shares of company stock valued at $15,165,916 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of ADBE traded down $6.92 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $557.63. 3,189,218 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,534,196. The company has a market cap of $247.25 billion, a PE ratio of 50.60, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $500.62 and its 200-day moving average is $533.22. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $433.97 and a 52 week high of $638.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a return on equity of 40.67% and a net margin of 24.86%. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.