Bank of Montreal Can Reduces Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,087,917 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 300,080 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.25% of Adobe worth $483,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,680,375 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,739,788,000 after buying an additional 151,286 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at $2,553,035,000. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,059,119 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,805,009,000 after purchasing an additional 696,172 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Adobe by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,909 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,249,066,000 after purchasing an additional 92,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Adobe by 7.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,424,024 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,235,157,000 after buying an additional 163,983 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $660.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $560.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Adobe from $580.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $475.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Adobe from $620.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $531.54.

Adobe Trading Down 5.0 %

ADBE opened at $349.07 on Monday. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $333.36 and a 12-month high of $587.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.77 billion, a PE ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $425.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $463.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Adobe news, CFO Daniel Durn acquired 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $390.58 per share, with a total value of $507,754.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,876 shares in the company, valued at $11,668,968.08. This trade represents a 4.55 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,334 shares in the company, valued at $7,888,020.16. This trade represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.