Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Given “Overweight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $660.00 price objective on the software company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on ADBE. JMP Securities restated a market perform rating on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Adobe from $550.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Adobe from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the company from $570.00 to $580.00 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 eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $606.58.

Adobe Trading Down 2.9 %

ADBE opened at $521.50 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $552.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $519.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Adobe has a fifty-two week low of $433.97 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.86, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.53 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Adobe will post 14.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.00, for a total transaction of $52,089.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,501,989. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 379,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,576,802.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.00, for a total value of $52,089.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,501,989. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,259 shares of company stock valued at $14,855,543 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the second quarter valued at $35,655,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its position in Adobe by 124.2% during the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 4,551 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,528,000 after buying an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Adobe during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Adobe by 0.8% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,974,734 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,097,044,000 after buying an additional 15,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

About Adobe

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.