Short Interest in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Expands By 6.4%

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,460,000 shares, a growth of 6.4% from the October 15th total of 6,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE opened at $503.37 on Friday. Adobe has a 12 month low of $433.97 and a 12 month high of $638.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $509.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $517.96. The company has a market cap of $221.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.51, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.30.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.53 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 42.82% and a net margin of 25.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Adobe will post 14.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.58, for a total value of $13,039,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 357,700 shares in the company, valued at $186,569,166. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Daniel Durn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $515.44, for a total transaction of $3,350,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,740,738.72. This represents a 23.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,187 shares of company stock worth $17,736,369. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Adobe by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,529,089 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,435,377,000 after purchasing an additional 147,981 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,403 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $10,565,000 after buying an additional 2,265 shares during the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,165,000. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Adobe by 22.1% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 16,154 shares of the software company’s stock worth $8,364,000 after buying an additional 2,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Executive Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Adobe by 3.7% during the third quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,331 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,349,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ADBE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Adobe from $560.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $660.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, September 13th. Argus raised shares of Adobe to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Adobe from $550.00 to $621.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.40.

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.