Advisors Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,571 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 2,734 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $9,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Adobe by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,648,975 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $20,511,473,000 after buying an additional 382,803 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Adobe by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,497,332 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,876,309,000 after purchasing an additional 590,533 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,277,785,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,560,086 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,720,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,379 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Adobe by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,602,297 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,552,530,000 after purchasing an additional 66,180 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Trading Up 1.9 %

ADBE traded up $10.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $542.44. 2,089,566 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,431,273. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $515.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $531.03. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $433.97 and a 52-week high of $638.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.52 billion, a PE ratio of 48.74, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.30.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a return on equity of 40.67% and a net margin of 24.86%. The company 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 business earned $3.04 EPS. Adobe’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $580.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on Adobe from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $603.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 151 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $564.60, for a total transaction of $85,254.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,579,186.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,014,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,658 shares of company stock worth $15,970,667. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.