Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC Has $50.97 Million Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,431 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 1,102 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up 1.6% of Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $50,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Adobe by 122.2% during the first quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the software company’s stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the 1st quarter valued at about $15,947,000. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,109 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 525,897 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $239,609,000 after purchasing an additional 91,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 138.3% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 6,651 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total transaction of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total transaction of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total value of $1,318,346.61. Following the sale, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,063 shares of company stock worth $1,853,025. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE traded down $10.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $474.09. 5,619,974 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,630,428. The company’s 50 day moving average is $545.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.39 billion, a PE ratio of 45.21, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $640.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TheStreet cut Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. HSBC cut their target price on Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

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.