Welch & Forbes LLC Raises Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 96,983 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,045 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $57,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Adobe by 2.2% during the third quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 785 shares of the software company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 915 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Adobe by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 559 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in Adobe by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 689 shares of the software company’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Adobe by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 417 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $705.00 to $700.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Adobe Trading Up 1.5 %

Adobe stock traded up $7.41 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $493.59. 2,103,523 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,442,089. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $507.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $561.34. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $331.89 and a twelve month high of $638.25. 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 market capitalization of $221.13 billion, a PE ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Adobe news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total transaction of $45,435.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,432 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.