Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 564,780 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 57,237 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for approximately 0.6% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $336,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $472,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in Adobe by 14.2% in the third quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Adobe by 3.1% in the third quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 3,810 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Adobe by 6.5% in the third quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total transaction of $45,435.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 293 shares of company stock valued at $137,656. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Adobe stock traded up $4.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $477.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,460,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,815,745. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $331.89 and a twelve month high of $638.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $515.34 and a 200-day moving average of $564.33. The stock has a market cap of $213.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.