Willis Investment Counsel Raises Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Willis Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,598 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Adobe were worth $6,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 1.4% during the 4th 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 stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $2,553,035,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Adobe by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,341,695 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,375,345,000 after purchasing an additional 600,146 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,314,215 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,363,125,000 after acquiring an additional 672,919 shares during the period. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Adobe by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,059,119 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,805,009,000 after purchasing an additional 696,172 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Adobe news, CFO Daniel Durn bought 1,300 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $390.58 per share, for a total transaction of $507,754.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 29,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,668,968.08. The trade was a 4.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $413.68 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $385.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.64. Adobe Inc. has a one year low of $332.01 and a one year high of $587.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADBE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Adobe from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Adobe from $620.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Adobe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $590.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.33.

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.