Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Acquired by Argus Investors Counsel Inc.

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,530 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 146 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up approximately 1.7% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $2,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.2% in the third quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 785 shares of the software company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 1.9% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 915 shares of the software company’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Adobe by 3.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 559 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 689 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management grew its position in shares of Adobe by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 417 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ADBE shares. TheStreet downgraded Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other 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 owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,432. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Stock Performance

ADBE stock traded down $0.62 on Thursday, reaching $483.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,217,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,321,392. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $361.72 and a 52 week high of $638.25. The company has a market capitalization of $216.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $487.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $556.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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.