ERn Financial LLC Increases Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,594 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 57.6% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 52 shares of the software company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Adobe by 314.3% in the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ADBE. Citigroup upped their price objective on Adobe from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.77, for a total value of $3,487,225.23. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,353,456.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,144,998.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.77, for a total transaction of $3,487,225.23. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,614 shares in the company, valued at $4,353,456.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,162 shares of company stock valued at $5,340,250 in the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $504.60. 3,897,003 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,897,709. The company’s 50-day moving average is $569.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $570.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $228.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.24, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.29. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $331.89 and a 1 year high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.