Columbia Asset Management Reduces Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Columbia Asset Management decreased its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,292 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 814 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up 1.2% of Columbia Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Adobe were worth $6,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Adobe by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,270,287 shares of the software company’s stock worth $10,495,544,000 after acquiring an additional 234,909 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Adobe by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,680,375 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,739,788,000 after purchasing an additional 151,286 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter worth about $2,553,035,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Adobe by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,909 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,249,066,000 after purchasing an additional 92,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Adobe by 7.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,424,024 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,235,157,000 after buying an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ADBE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $590.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Adobe from $560.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $475.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Adobe from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $531.54.

Insider Activity

In other Adobe news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total value of $145,567.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170,203.55. The trade was a 11.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total transaction of $403,172.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,687,063.84. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Stock Down 0.1 %

ADBE stock opened at $383.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $429.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $466.40. The company has a market capitalization of $163.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $374.50 and a 52 week high of $587.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.