Traders Buy High Volume of Adobe Call Options (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 29,648 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 14% compared to the average daily volume of 26,034 call options.

Adobe Price Performance

ADBE stock traded up $19.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $535.47. 1,953,760 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,120,188. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $520.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Adobe has a 1-year low of $433.97 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The company has a market cap of $235.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.60, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.53 by $0.12. Adobe had a return on equity of 42.82% and a net margin of 25.59%. The business had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Adobe will post 14.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.58, for a total transaction of $13,039,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 357,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,569,166. This trade represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Daniel Durn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $515.44, for a total transaction of $3,350,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,740,738.72. This represents a 23.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 34,187 shares of company stock worth $17,736,369. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ADBE. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the third quarter valued at $14,622,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in Adobe by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 5,714 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. American Trust bought a new position in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,057,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,424,024 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,235,157,000 after purchasing an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Adobe by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 39,805 shares of the software company’s stock worth $20,611,000 after buying an additional 5,080 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ADBE. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Adobe from $560.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Adobe from $660.00 to $644.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Argus raised Adobe to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.40.

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.