Argus Upgrades Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Strong-Buy

Argus upgraded shares of Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on ADBE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Adobe from $550.00 to $621.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Adobe from $525.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Adobe has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $606.40.

Adobe Stock Up 3.6 %

ADBE stock opened at $526.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $233.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.30, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Adobe has a twelve month low of $433.97 and a twelve month high of $638.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $549.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.04.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.53 by $0.12. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.26 EPS. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Adobe will post 14.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 379,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 379,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 1,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.23, for a total value of $857,151.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,405,722.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,759 shares of company stock worth $18,205,903. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Adobe by 1,213.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,024,438 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,207,780,000 after buying an additional 1,870,307 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the 1st quarter valued at about $621,179,000. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD purchased a new position in Adobe during the second quarter worth approximately $663,745,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of 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. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 81.1% during the 1st quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP now owns 1,285,596 shares of the software company’s stock worth $648,712,000 after buying an additional 575,675 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Adobe Company 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.