Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Bought by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,123 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $4,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. increased its stake in Adobe by 526.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 94 shares of the software company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Adobe Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADBE traded up $7.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $470.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,223,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,460,086. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $512.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $563.44. The firm has a market cap of $210.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25.

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

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ADBE. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total transaction of $45,435.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,596.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 293 shares of company stock worth $137,656. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.