StockNews.com Downgrades Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Buy

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

ADBE has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $625.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Adobe from $570.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Adobe in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Adobe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.88.

Adobe Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $451.24 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $439.61 and a 200-day moving average of $488.77. The company has a market capitalization of $196.42 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Adobe has a 52-week low of $403.75 and a 52-week high of $587.75.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Adobe will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,170,203.55. This represents a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total transaction of $403,172.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,687,063.84. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,681 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,126 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adobe

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Adobe by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,270,287 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $10,495,544,000 after acquiring an additional 234,909 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Adobe by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,680,375 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,739,788,000 after acquiring an additional 151,286 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,553,035,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Adobe by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,341,695 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,375,345,000 after acquiring an additional 600,146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

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.