Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ADBE. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $584.88.

Adobe Trading Down 3.1 %

ADBE stock traded down $13.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $441.31. 6,499,412 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,273,548. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.29. Adobe has a 52-week low of $433.97 and a 52-week high of $638.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $502.76 and a 200-day moving average of $523.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results 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. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.22%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe will post 16.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 1,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.82, for a total value of $786,144.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,675,744.42. This represents a 7.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 676 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.97, for a total transaction of $327,839.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,715 shares in the company, valued at $1,316,693.55. This trade represents a 19.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,293 shares of company stock worth $14,719,309. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its position in Adobe by 226.7% in the third quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 28.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Adobe by 141.7% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.