Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,278 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,749 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for 0.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Adobe were worth $31,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Adobe by 17,006.8% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 2,161,614 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,102,207,000 after buying an additional 2,148,978 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $875,592,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Adobe by 25.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,438,805 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,263,347,000 after buying an additional 889,607 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Adobe by 12.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,326,092,000 after buying an additional 498,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $152,970,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ADBE. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Piper Sandler Companies reduced their price objective on Adobe from $705.00 to $700.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other 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 transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other 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 transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,848,418 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Trading Up 0.4 %

Adobe stock traded up $1.87 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $466.89. 2,602,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,559,545. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $524.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $566.33. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25. The firm has a market cap of $209.17 billion, a PE ratio of 44.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.28. 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 results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for 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%. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. Research analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 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.