Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,999 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 5,451 shares during the period. Adobe comprises approximately 0.8% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $24,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in Adobe by 28.8% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 11,522 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Adobe by 141.7% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $451.24 on Thursday. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $403.75 and a 12-month high of $587.75. The company has a market capitalization of $196.42 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $439.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $488.77. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.52 earnings per share. Adobe’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Adobe news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,796.32. This represents a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total value of $1,643,086.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,888,020.16. This trade represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,681 shares of company stock worth $2,525,126 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ADBE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $590.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $625.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.88.

Adobe Company 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.