Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Grows Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 622,423 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 7,661 shares during the period. Adobe makes up about 1.9% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Adobe were worth $371,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 17,006.8% in the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 2,161,614 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,102,207,000 after buying an additional 2,148,978 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter worth $875,592,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,438,805 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,263,347,000 after buying an additional 889,607 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,326,092,000 after buying an additional 498,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth $152,970,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ ADBE traded down $3.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $473.44. 2,245,608 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,510,927. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $519.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25. The stock has a market cap of $212.10 billion, a PE ratio of 44.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADBE. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,829,839. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 293 shares of company stock valued at $137,656. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.