Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 22.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 858 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 243 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Simmons Bank grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 24,790 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $14,790,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,602,297 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,552,530,000 after buying an additional 66,180 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 96,983 shares of the software company’s stock worth $57,860,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the 4th quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the software company’s stock worth $7,605,000 after purchasing an additional 5,554 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Adobe news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total value of $47,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Adobe Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $492.27. The stock had a trading volume of 2,517,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,431,529. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $220.54 billion, a PE ratio of 47.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $331.89 and a 12-month high of $638.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $505.80 and its 200-day moving average is $561.00.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released 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 net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ADBE. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $705.00 to $700.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.