Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,898 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 3.1% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,720 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Adobe by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,407 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,242,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,863,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in Adobe by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 655 shares of the software company’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in Adobe by 660.0% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 190 shares of the software company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE traded up $8.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $555.54. 5,084,543 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,723,748. The company’s 50-day moving average is $485.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $534.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $246.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.91, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.27. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $433.97 and a 1 year high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 40.67%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at $15,829,839. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,270 shares of company stock worth $15,165,916. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ADBE. Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $570.00 to $580.00 in a report on Friday, June 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Adobe from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. TheStreet lowered shares of Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $607.67.

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.