Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and twenty-one have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $607.67.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Adobe from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Adobe from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Adobe from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective (down previously from $680.00) on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 7th.

Adobe Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $533.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $238.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $478.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $537.63. Adobe has a 1 year low of $433.97 and a 1 year high of $638.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.39 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 40.67% and a net margin of 24.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Adobe will post 14.69 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.51, for a total transaction of $138,734.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,740 shares in the company, valued at $1,439,897.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 264 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.51, for a total value of $138,734.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,740 shares in the company, valued at $1,439,897.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,270 shares of company stock worth $1,563,166. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,277,785,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Adobe by 1,213.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,024,438 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,207,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,870,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $875,592,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Adobe in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $621,179,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Adobe by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,644,050 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,857,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146,718 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.