Blue Square Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Blue Square Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,533 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. Blue Square Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 266.7% during the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 55 shares of the software company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 346.2% during the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Steph & Co. raised its stake in Adobe by 63.8% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 77 shares of the software company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the first quarter worth about $47,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on ADBE shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Adobe from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $580.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $607.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at $15,829,839. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,270 shares of company stock worth $15,165,916. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Stock Performance

Adobe stock traded down $6.92 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $557.63. 3,189,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,534,196. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $433.97 and a 52-week high of $638.25. The stock has a market cap of $247.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $500.62 and its 200 day moving average is $533.22.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Adobe 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.