Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Has $6.69 Million Stock Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 288.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,218 shares of the software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,333 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up about 0.7% of Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $6,693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Adobe by 122.2% during the first quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares during the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in Adobe during the first quarter worth $15,947,000. United Bank raised its stake in Adobe by 34.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 2,109 shares of the software company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Adobe by 21.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 525,897 shares of the software company’s stock worth $239,609,000 after buying an additional 91,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 138.3% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 6,651 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,030,000 after buying an additional 3,860 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE traded up $6.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $476.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,918,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,602,057. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $538.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $567.86. Adobe Inc. has a one year low of $331.89 and a one year high of $638.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total value of $49,727.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total transaction of $484,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,063 shares of company stock worth $1,853,025 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

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.