Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 32,929 shares in the company, valued at $18,110,950. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David A. Ricks purchased 2,250 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $443.98 per share, with a total value of $998,955.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This represents a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,681 shares of company stock worth $2,525,126 over the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Piscataqua Savings Bank increased its holdings in Adobe by 226.7% during 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 during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Adobe by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 11,522 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Adobe from $610.00 to $590.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $573.00.

Adobe Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE opened at $437.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $463.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $504.74. Adobe has a fifty-two week low of $403.75 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25. The company has a market cap of $190.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.31.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.