Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Up 0.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $653.00 to $660.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Adobe traded as high as $530.37 and last traded at $521.80. 1,647,554 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 3,514,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $518.74.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ADBE. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Melius downgraded shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Adobe from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $607.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.51, for a total value of $138,734.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,740 shares in the company, valued at $1,439,897.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.51, for a total value of $138,734.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,439,897.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,270 shares of company stock worth $1,563,166 over the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Adobe by 266.7% in the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 55 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 346.2% during the 1st quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 63.8% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 77 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Adobe Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $475.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.80. The company has a market capitalization of $233.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.92, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.27.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.