Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 729 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Adobe by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock worth $5,288,309,000 after acquiring an additional 277,484 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Adobe by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,497,332 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,876,309,000 after purchasing an additional 590,533 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,277,785,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Adobe by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,560,086 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,720,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Adobe by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,602,297 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,552,530,000 after purchasing an additional 66,180 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE stock traded up $8.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $555.54. 5,084,543 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,723,748. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $485.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $534.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $246.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.91, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.27. Adobe Inc. has a 12 month low of $433.97 and a 12 month high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 40.67% and a net margin of 24.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 14.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software company to purchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $570.00 to $580.00 in a research report on Friday, June 14th. HSBC lowered their price target on Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $607.67.

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.