Freedom Investment Management Inc. Boosts Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,219 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ADBE. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Adobe during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Caitlin John LLC raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 171.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 76 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 85 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, Director David A. Ricks purchased 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This represents a 82.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Daniel Durn bought 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $390.58 per share, for a total transaction of $507,754.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,668,968.08. This represents a 4.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $348.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $405.74 and a 200 day moving average of $451.49. Adobe Inc. has a 52 week low of $332.01 and a 52 week high of $587.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $490.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Adobe from $560.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $495.00 to $450.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Adobe from $530.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Eleven research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.27.

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.