Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 57,237 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 564,780 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 57,237 shares during the quarter. Adobe comprises approximately 0.6% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.12% of Adobe worth $336,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock worth $5,288,309,000 after buying an additional 277,484 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,732,307,000 after buying an additional 202,136 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 12.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,326,092,000 after buying an additional 498,957 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 25.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,438,805 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,263,347,000 after buying an additional 889,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 17,006.8% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 2,161,614 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,102,207,000 after buying an additional 2,148,978 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $445.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $557.00 to $511.00 and set a “hold” 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 assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 293 shares of company stock valued at $137,656 in the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Adobe Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:ADBE traded up $4.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $477.56. The company had a trading volume of 2,460,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,815,745. The company has a market capitalization of $213.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $515.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $564.33. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $331.89 and a 52 week high of $638.25. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.