Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Sells 546 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,337 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in Adobe by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the period. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $399,000. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,091 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Adobe by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 5,709 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,406,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 16,086 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $9,597,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

ADBE stock traded down $3.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $501.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,906,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,647,467. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $573.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $571.57. Adobe Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $331.89 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.89 billion, a PE ratio of 48.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. Analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.77, for a total value of $3,487,225.23. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,353,456.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,162 shares of company stock valued at $5,340,250. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

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.