Empirical Finance LLC Raises Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,747 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $8,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in Adobe by 10.7% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 435 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Oak Grove Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,424,000. Invst LLC raised its position in shares of Adobe by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 915 shares of the software company’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Carmignac Gestion raised its position in shares of Adobe by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 13,541 shares of the software company’s stock worth $6,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE traded up $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $559.05. 2,006,108 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,522,728. The company has a market capitalization of $247.88 billion, a PE ratio of 50.32, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $533.39. Adobe Inc. has a one year low of $433.97 and a one year high of $638.25.

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

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total value of $13,602,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 379,660 shares in the company, valued at $206,576,802.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.11, for a total value of $13,602,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 379,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,576,802.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,270 shares of company stock worth $15,165,916 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADBE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price target on Adobe from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 14th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Adobe from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $603.33.

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.