Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

ADBE has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Mizuho reissued a buy rating and set a $640.00 price objective (down from $680.00) on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $604.35.

Adobe Stock Up 14.5 %

NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $525.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $474.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $541.20. The company has a market capitalization of $235.34 billion, a PE ratio of 50.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.27. 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 has a 1-year low of $433.97 and a 1-year high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The company had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.04 EPS. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Adobe will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its board has approved a share 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 reacquire up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Adobe news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,014,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Adobe by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,648,975 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $20,511,473,000 after buying an additional 382,803 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Adobe by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,288,309,000 after buying an additional 277,484 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Adobe by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,644,050 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,857,189,000 after buying an additional 1,146,718 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,277,785,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Adobe by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,732,307,000 after buying an additional 202,136 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.