Empire Life Investments Inc. Purchases New Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Empire Life Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,297 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,911,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Adobe by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 165,167 shares of the software company’s stock worth $84,750,000 after buying an additional 42,736 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Adobe by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,196,175 shares of the software company’s stock worth $619,355,000 after buying an additional 3,739 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its holdings in Adobe by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 1,645 shares of the software company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth about $155,000. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Adobe by 56.3% in the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 880 shares of the software company’s stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE opened at $460.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $200.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $403.75 and a 52-week high of $607.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $448.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $497.41.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Adobe from $640.00 to $605.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $475.00 target price (down from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.00.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $443.98 per share, with a total value of $998,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,796.32. The trade was a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,888,020.16. The trade was a 17.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,681 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,126. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.