Ascent Capital Management LLC Buys New Stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Ascent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 616 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADBE. Avalon Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 48,208 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $21,437,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors increased its position in Adobe by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 34,974 shares of the software company’s stock worth $15,552,000 after buying an additional 12,775 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Adobe by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 9,010 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after buying an additional 3,413 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investment Management LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its position in shares of Adobe by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 2,615 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,163,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADBE has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $605.00 to $528.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Adobe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $475.00 price target (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $660.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $540.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

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

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE opened at $394.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $171.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $437.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $482.06. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $374.50 and a 52 week high of $587.75.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.