Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Purchased by Richelieu Gestion SA

Richelieu Gestion SA raised its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 3.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,816 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up approximately 2.5% of Richelieu Gestion SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Richelieu Gestion SA’s holdings in Adobe were worth $2,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Adobe Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADBE traded up $3.51 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $530.39. 1,801,480 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,558,618. The company has a market capitalization of $237.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.27. Adobe Inc. has a 12 month low of $433.97 and a 12 month high of $638.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $536.04.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The company had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.51, for a total transaction of $138,734.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,439,897.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,014,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,270 shares of company stock worth $1,563,166 in the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADBE. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Adobe from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. TheStreet cut Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price (down previously from $680.00) on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $607.67.

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.