Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after DA Davidson lowered their price target on the stock from $685.00 to $625.00. The stock had previously closed at $549.93, but opened at $487.50. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the stock. Adobe shares last traded at $481.94, with a volume of 4,823,986 shares changing hands.

ADBE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $584.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.58, for a total transaction of $13,039,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 357,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,569,166. This trade represents a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 1,530 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.82, for a total transaction of $786,144.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,675,744.42. The trade was a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,793 shares of company stock worth $18,069,669 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adobe

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1ST Source Bank increased its holdings in Adobe by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 2,889 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 1.8% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,436 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the third quarter worth approximately $14,622,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in Adobe by 9.1% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 5,714 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,959,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Trust purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter worth approximately $1,057,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Down 13.7 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $506.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $523.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $208.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.02, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 42.82% and a net margin of 25.59%. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.82 earnings per share for the current year.

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.