DAVENPORT & Co LLC Sells 87,137 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC cut its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,944 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 87,137 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up approximately 0.9% of DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $131,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 4.1% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 1,106 shares of the software company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,141,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Adobe by 5.9% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 44,586 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $22,734,000 after buying an additional 2,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 23.9% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 8,992 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,585,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,353,456.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,353,456.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value of $1,318,346.61. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,144,998.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,162 shares of company stock valued at $5,340,250 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADBE. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays dropped their target price on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, HSBC dropped their target price on Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

Adobe Price Performance

NASDAQ ADBE traded down $2.88 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $499.21. The stock had a trading volume of 3,082,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,646,125. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $331.89 and a twelve month high of $638.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $565.60 and its 200 day moving average is $570.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Adobe 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.