California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 881,948 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 679 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.20% of Adobe worth $526,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in Adobe by 57.6% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 52 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 price objective for the company. HSBC decreased their price target on Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,144,998.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value of $1,318,346.61. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,144,998.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at $2,495,528.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,075 shares of company stock worth $1,848,418. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE stock traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $466.89. The stock had a trading volume of 2,602,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,559,545. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25. The company has a market cap of $209.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $527.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $566.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Adobe declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.