Ascent Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Ascent Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,131 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 734 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $7,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 1,124.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,135 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,730,000 after buying an additional 8,389 shares during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 281,890 shares of the software company’s stock worth $145,957,000 after buying an additional 20,876 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 8,236.0% in the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 25,008 shares of the software company’s stock worth $12,949,000 after buying an additional 24,708 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Adobe by 282.8% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,033 shares of the software company’s stock worth $5,713,000 after purchasing an additional 8,151 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth $816,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In other Adobe news, CFO Daniel Durn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $515.44, for a total value of $3,350,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,740,738.72. This represents a 23.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.58, for a total transaction of $13,039,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 357,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,569,166. The trade was a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,187 shares of company stock valued at $17,736,369 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $515.93 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $227.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $433.97 and a 52 week high of $638.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $503.01 and a 200 day moving average of $520.50.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.53 by $0.12. Adobe had a return on equity of 42.82% and a net margin of 25.59%. The business had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Adobe from $550.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Adobe from $560.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com raised Adobe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Adobe from $660.00 to $644.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.40.

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.