Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Boosts Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,325 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the quarter. Adobe accounts for about 1.1% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $54,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 82,528.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,042,775 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $463,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,513 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,690,163 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,017,373,000 after acquiring an additional 787,356 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at about $243,827,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,168,584 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $519,646,000 after acquiring an additional 347,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seilern Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,744,000. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Adobe news, Director David A. Ricks purchased 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This represents a 82.30 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total value of $1,643,086.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,888,020.16. The trade was a 17.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

NASDAQ ADBE opened at $438.60 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $439.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $484.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $403.75 and a 1-year high of $587.75.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Adobe from $590.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Adobe from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $563.96.

Adobe 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.