Everence Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 50.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,097 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 4,750 shares during the quarter. Adobe comprises about 0.6% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $8,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ADBE. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Adobe by 288.8% in the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,218 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $6,693,000 after purchasing an additional 8,333 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its position in Adobe by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 22,792 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $13,598,000 after purchasing an additional 5,138 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC raised its position in Adobe by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 4,550 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,715,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC raised its position in Adobe by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 43,662 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $26,049,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management raised its position in Adobe by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 68,800 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $41,046,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total transaction of $49,727.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total transaction of $49,727.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.71, for a total transaction of $1,318,346.61. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,144,998.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,063 shares of company stock valued at $1,853,025 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:ADBE traded up $6.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $476.22. 2,626,477 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,604,997. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $538.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $567.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Adobe Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $331.89 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25. The firm has a market cap of $213.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.57, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its 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 the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to buy up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ADBE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.