Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Short Interest Up 25.6% in December

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, an increase of 25.6% from the December 15th total of 6,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Adobe Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $417.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.31. Adobe has a twelve month low of $403.75 and a twelve month high of $638.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $481.07 and a 200-day moving average of $515.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share 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 net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Adobe will post 16.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 676 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.97, for a total transaction of $327,839.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,316,693.55. The trade was a 19.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,110,950. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,763 shares of company stock worth $893,665. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Piscataqua Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Adobe during the third quarter worth $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 28.8% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Adobe by 141.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ADBE shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Adobe from $610.00 to $590.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $573.00.

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.