Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Acquires New Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 27,992 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,700,000. Adobe makes up about 2.4% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 24,790 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $14,790,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 66,180 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at about $245,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total transaction of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at $10,014,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE traded down $4.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $488.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,164,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,417,364. Adobe Inc. has a 12 month low of $331.89 and a 12 month 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $505.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $561.00. The stock has a market cap of $218.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ADBE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TheStreet cut Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

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.