Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and nineteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $620.72.

Several research firms recently issued reports on ADBE. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 target price for the company.

Adobe Stock Up 2.0 %

ADBE stock opened at $486.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.81 billion, a PE ratio of 46.48, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe has a 1-year low of $331.89 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.19.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Adobe will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at $10,014,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 266.7% in the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 55 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 346.2% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.