Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $3.40 Million Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lessened its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,730 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 1,525 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Adobe were worth $3,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at $3,277,785,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Adobe by 1,213.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,024,438 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,207,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870,307 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter worth about $875,592,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,497,332 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,876,309,000 after buying an additional 590,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in Adobe by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 1,053,424 shares of the software company’s stock worth $628,473,000 after buying an additional 307,479 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE traded up $4.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $522.95. 1,766,957 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,516,204. Adobe Inc. 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 quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $475.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $539.44. The firm has a market cap of $234.28 billion, a PE ratio of 46.88, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.27.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Adobe from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on Adobe from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $607.67.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at $15,829,839. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,432 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.