HM Payson & Co. Raises Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,060 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 2,691 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $26,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Adobe by 141.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total value of $145,567.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170,203.55. This trade represents a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total value of $403,172.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,687,063.84. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ADBE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (down from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $625.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $605.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $567.81.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $449.40 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $439.56 and a 200 day moving average of $487.67. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $403.75 and a 52 week high of $587.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.24, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Adobe Inc. 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.