Essential Planning LLC. Purchases New Shares in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,953 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,094,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,712,616 shares of the software company’s stock worth $765,094,000 after acquiring an additional 33,414 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Adobe by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 127,696 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $56,784,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Adobe by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,322 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $10,005,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Adobe by 201.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 117,383 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $60,779,000 after buying an additional 78,384 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Adobe by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,519 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Down 0.3 %

Adobe stock opened at $433.66 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $188.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. Adobe Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $403.75 and a fifty-two week high of $587.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $439.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $484.86.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.52 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ADBE. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Adobe from $525.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $625.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Adobe from $551.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $515.00 price target on Adobe and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $563.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In related news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,170,203.55. This trade represents a 11.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. The trade was a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.