Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Adobe from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, June 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Adobe from $653.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Adobe from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $607.67.

Adobe Price Performance

Adobe stock opened at $557.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $502.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $533.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. Adobe has a 12-month low of $433.97 and a 12-month high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.39 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. Adobe’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Adobe will post 14.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total transaction of $13,602,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 379,660 shares in the company, valued at $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,270 shares of company stock worth $15,165,916. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,277,785,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Adobe by 1,213.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,024,438 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,207,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth about $875,592,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Adobe in the 1st quarter valued at about $621,179,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Adobe by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,644,050 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,857,189,000 after buying an additional 1,146,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

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.